GIFT    ©F 

JANE 


HISTORY 


OF 


THE    EEBELLION 


ITS   AUTHORS  AND   CAUSES. 


BY  JOSHUA  R.  GIDDINGS. 


NEW    YORK: 
FOLLET,    FOSTER    &    CO. 

1864. 


333 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1864, 

FOLLETT,  FOSTER  &  CO., 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  United  States  District,  Court  for  the  Northern  District  of  New-York. 


J,  J.  REEL*,  'vmvttm  tt  Shv, 

43  Centre  Street,  N.  T. 


TO 

THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

FOR  WHOSE  RIGHTS  AND  INTERESTS  THE  AUTHOR  SO  LONG  LABORED, 
THIS  WORK   IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED, 

JOSHUA  R.  GIDDINGS. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


BY  noting  the  time  when  any  particular  incident  is  said  to 
have  occurred,  and  then  referring  to  the  corresponding  date 
in  the  "Journals  of  Congress,"  "The  American  Archives," 
"American  State  Papers,"  "Annals  of  Congress,"  "Debates 
in  Congress,"  or  "  Congressional  Globe,"  the  reader  will  find 
official  authority  on  which  the  statement  is  made.  In  all  other 
cases  the  authority  is  particularly  cited. 


PREFACE. 


THE  present  Rebellion  is  the  first  in  the  annals  of  mankind, 
where  a  people  have  risen  in  arms  against  liberty  for  the 
purpose  of  establishing  a  despotism.  With  its  remote  and 
proximate  causes  the  people  should  be  familiar ;  its  authors 
and  abettors  should  be  known  to  the  present  and  coming 
generations. 

In  the  long  struggle  which  preceded  actual  secession,  the 
writer  participated.  It  was  his  fortune  to  enunciate  the  policy 
of  separating  the  people  of  the  free  States  and  the  federal 
power  from  the  support  of  slavery,  leaving  that  institution 
entirely  with  the  States,  where  it  had  been  left  by  the  patriots 
who  framed  the  charter  of  our  Union.  Messrs.  Adams,  Slade, 
and  Gates,  then  members  of  Congress,  sustained  the  policy ; 
others  subsequently  united  with  us ;  we  were  opposed  not  by 
reason,  or  argument,  or  justice,  but  by  personal  detraction,  mis 
representation,  insult,  threats  of  violence,  and  denunciation. 

The  contest  was  earnest  and  protracted.  For  more  than 
twenty  years  the  author  mingled  in  scenes  of  unusual  interest. 
The  adoption  and  repeal  of  the  gag-rules ;  the  trial  of  the  Hon. 
John  Quincy  Adams;  the  censure  of  the  author  by  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  its  reversal  by  the  people ;  the  annex 
ation  of  Texas ;  the  memorable  defeat  of  the  slave  power  in  its 
efforts  to  establish  slavery  in  California ;  the  undisguised  cor 
ruption  exerted  to  tax  the  people  of  the  free  States  for  the 
payment  of  the  debts  of  Texas ;  the  civil  war  for  extending 

vti 


PREFACE. 

slavery  into  Kansas ;  the  defeat  of  the  Executive  designs  by 
the  people,  and  the  founding  of  free  institutions  in  that  terri 
tory,  constitute  some  of  the  incidents  in  which  the  author  par 
ticipated. 

Defeated  in  their  designs  of  transforming  the  Government 
into  a  slaveholding  oligarchy,  most  of  the  slave  States  rebelled 
against  the  Government  which  had  protected^  them,  defied  its 
authority,  and  declared  their  intention  to  establish  an  indepen 
dent  power,  devoted  to  a  perpetual  war  upon  human  nature. 

Few  who  mingled  in  these  early  conflicts  now  remain.  Most 
of  them  have  passed  to  their  reward ;  and  the  author,  as  he 
lingers  upon  the  verge  of  time,  presents,  this  volume  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  as  an  humble  memoir  of  the  poli 
tical  scenes  in  which  he  participated,  while  it  points  out  the 
causes  and  authors  of  the  Kebellion. 

JEFFERSON,  OHIO,  August  30, 1863. 


THE  REBELLION: 

ITS   CAUSES  AND   ITS  AUTHORS 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    FORMATION   AND    CHARACTER    OF  THE   GOVERNMENT — ITS   EARLY  ACTION 
ON   THE    SUBJECT   OF    SLAVERY. 

THE  Continental  Congress  of  1774  united  in  a  solemn  assertion  that 
"  the  inhabitants  of  these  Colonies,  by  the  immutable  laws  of  nature,  by  the 
British  Constitution  and  their  several  charters,  have  the  right  to  life, 
liberty  and  property." 

This  avowal  constituted  the  first  step  in  the  formation  of  what  we  call 
the  "American  Union." 

The  publicists  of  Europe  and  many  leading  minds  of  the  Colonies  had 
turned  their  attention  to  the  philosophy  of  human  governments  :  many 
asserted  the  equal  rights  of  all  men  to  life,  liberty  and  happiness.  The 
doctrine  was  at  that  time  much  discussed  in  public  speeches,  in  newspa 
per  essays  and  pamphlets  published  for  its  promulgation. 

The  Colonial  governments  had  been  formed  at  various  periods  prior  to 
the  general  agitation  of  .these  doctrines.  Georgia  was  the  only  colony 
founded  upon  the  basis  of  human  liberty,  from  which  her  people,  however, 
receded  after  a  few  years  of  experience,  adopting  the  despotic  principle 
that  governments  possessed  the  same  legitimate  power  to  enslave  men 
which  they  had  to  secure  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  liberty  :  and  while 
the  declaration  of  rights  put  forth  by  the  Congress  of  1774  was  far  in 
advance  of  the  governments  of  Europe  and  those  of  the  Colonies,  it 
nevertheless  fell  short  of  those  subsequently  enunciated  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  in  IT 7 6  :  but  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  those 
asserted  in  1774,  the  Colonists  took  up  arms  and  gallantly  defended  their 
adopted  faith  at  Lexington,  Concord  and  Bunker  Hill. 


•V"'  ^  *.?  ?  >'  "V  " 

10 


DECLARATION   OF  PRINCIPLES. 


1776  ,         But  being  involved  in  civil  war,  they  felt  the  propriety  of  more 
fully  vindicating  their  course  before  the  Christian  world  ;   and 
Congress  appointed  a  select  committee  of  five  members  to  draft  a  declara 
tion  of  principles  to  constitute  the  basis  of  the  new  government. 

This  committee  consisted  of  John  Adams,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Roger 
Sherman,  of  Connecticut  ;  Benjamin  Franklin,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  and 
Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Virginia  ;  each  of  whom  had  already  distinguished 
himself  as  an  advocate  of  the  new  philosophy.  Mr.  Livingston,  of  New 
York,  was  also  a  member  of  the  committee,  and,  though  less  distinguish 
ed  on  this  subject,  is  supposed  to  have  been  as  much  devoted  to  the  sup 
port  of  human  rights  as  were  his  illustrious  colleagues. 

In  their  report  they  proclaimed  the  self-evident  truths,  "  that  all  men 
are  created  equal  in  their  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  hap 
piness  ;  that  governments  are  instituted  to  secure  the  enjoyment  of 
these  rights  ;  that  whenever  any  form  of  government  becomes  destructive 
of  these  ends,  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  the  people  to  alter  or  abolish  it, 
and  reorganize  its  powers  in  such  form  as  they  may  deem  most  likely 
to  secure  their  interest  and  happiness." 

This  was  the  second  avowal  of  rights  put  forth  by  the  founders  of 
our  Government  ;  and  differed  from  the  first  in  announcing  the  preroga 
tives  of  life,  liberty  and  happiness,  as  conferred  on  all  men,  in  all  ages, 
and  in  all  dimes.  This  declaration  announced  to  the  world  that  the 
Colonies  had  formed  an  indissoluble  union  for  defending  those  doctrines  : 
and  was  the  consummation  of  the  Union  which  had  been  commenced  in 
1774.  But  scarcely  had  the  Colonies  united  upon  these  doctrines,  when 
the  subject  of  slavery  came  under  discussion.  Georgia  called  on  Con 
gress  to  furnish  troops  to  prevent  slaves  from  escaping  from  the  service  of 
their  masters.  Many  of  the  States  legislated  in  regard  to  slaves  who 
should  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  some  of 
them  called  on  Congress  to  provide  for  the  military  employment  of 
slaves  ;*  but  the  statesmen  of  that  day  carefully  abstained  from  all  legis 
lation  in  favor  of  slavery,  and  wholly  refused  to  recognize  it  as  entitled 
to  respectful  consideration.  But  the  commissioners  appointed  to  nego 
tiate  a  treaty  of  peace  with  England,  were  not  thus  careful.  Messrs. 
John  Jay,  John  Adams,  and  Benjamin  Franklin,  were  appointed  for 
that  purpose.  They  met  the  commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  British 
ministry,  at  Paris,  and  had  nearly  completed  the  negotiation,  when 
Mr.  Laurens,  of  South  Carolina,  who  had  been  confined  in  England, 
being  released  by  the  British  government,  joined  them,  he  having 

*  Vid«  American  Archives  of  17T6. 


THE   OONFEDEKATION.  11 

been  also  appointed  a  commissioner :  at  his  suggestion  the  seventh 
article  of  the  treaty  was  made  to  read  as  follows  :  "  His  Britannic 
Majesty  shall  with  all  convenient  speed,  and  without  causing  any 
destruction,  or  carrying  away  any  negroes,  or  other  property  of  the 
American  inhabitants,  withdraw  all  his  armies,  garrisons,  and  fleets  from 
the  United  States." 

There  had  been  no  instructions  for  the  commissioners  to  make  ,1783 
any  stipulation  in  regard  to  slaves  ;  but  as  peace  was  important  to 
the  Colonies,  the  treaty  was  approved,  notwithstanding  this  stipulation  ; 
but  neither  the  army  nor  fleet  of  Great  Britain  regarded  this  stipulation 
as  of  any  validity  whatever.  "When  they  left  the  United  States  they 
carried  away  many  negroes  claimed  by  the  inhabitants,  saying,  hi  the 
language  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  "  Governments  are  insti 
tuted  to  secure  the,  enjoyment  of  liberty  and  not  to  protect  slavery."  And 
this  seems  to  have  been  the  idea  of  the  British  ministry,  who  refused 
compensation  for  the  negroes  thus  deported,  in  violation  of  the  letter 
of  the  treaty. 

The  Government  under  the  confederation,  not  only  refused  to  act  in 
favor  of  slavery,  but  its  powers  were  actively  put  forth  in  favor  of  free 
dom.  Congress  abolished  the  institution  in  all  the  territories  of  the 
United  States,  and  sent  forth  an  address  to  the  people,  in  which  they 
said  :  "  Let  it  be  remembered  that  it  has  ever  been  the  pride  and  boast 
of  America  that  the  rights  for  which  she  contended  were  the  rights  of 
human  nature,  and  if  justice,  good  faith,  honor,  gratitude,  and  all  the 
other  qualities  that  ennoble  the  character  of  a  nation  and  fulfill  the  ends 
of  government  be  the  fruits  of  our  establishment,  the  cause  of  liberty  will 
acquire  a  dignity  and  lustre  which  it  has  never  enjoyed,  and  an  example 
will  be  set  which  cannot  but  have  the  most  favorable  effect  on  the 
rights  of  mankind." 

The  old  confederation  continued  until  1789.  During  the  thirteen  years 
of  its  existence,  the  powers  of  Congress  were  exerted  for  the  entire  abo 
lition  of  slavery  in  the  territory  possessed  by  the  United  States  ;  and 
when  the  governmental  authority  passed  over  to  the  new  organization 
under  the  Constitution,  no  human  being  was  held  in  bondage  under  its 
laws  or  within  its  exclusive  jurisdiction.  Indeed,  during  the  existence 
of  the  confederation  no  member  of  Congress  raised  his  voice  in  favor  of 
slavery  ;  or  if  he  did,  it  would  seem  that  no  record  of  such  opinions  was 
preserved. 

In  the  convention  which  framed  our  Federal  Constitution,  at- 
tempts  were  made  to  resist  the  progress  of  free  principles.  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia  demanded  security  against  the  abolition  of  the 


12  CHARACTER   OF   THE   CONSTITUTION. 

slave  trade,  but  the  difficulty  was  compromised  upon  the  constitutional 
assurance  that  it  should  not  be  prohibited  until  A.D.  1808. 

The  States  most  interested  in  slave  labor  also  insisted  on  being  repre 
sented  in  Congress  according  to  their  population,  including  slaves.  This 
was  violently  opposed  by  members  from  those  States  which  had  com 
menced  the  work  of  emancipation,  as  it  would  give  owners  of  slaves  su 
perior  influence  in  the  Government  over  the  advocates  of  liberty  propor 
tioned  to  the  number  of  slaves  they  should  hold  in  bondage,  and  thus 
operate  against  the  essential  doctrines  on  which  the  Government  was 
founded.  This  point  was  also  compromised,  and  the  slaveholding  States 
were  allowed  a  representation  according  to  the  number  of  their  free  pop 
ulation,  superadding  thereto  three-fifths  of  the  whole  number  of  their 
slaves  ;  thus  giving  to  slaveholders  an  influence  superior  to  that  enjoyed 
by  the  advocates  of  liberty  ;  and  the  Constitution  was  thus  made  to  ope 
rate  to  that  extent  in  favor  of  oppression.  But  as  an  equivalent  for 
this  superior  influence,  the  advocates  of  slavery  agreed  to  contribute  to 
the  support  of  Government  in  case  of  direct  taxation  according  to  their 
representation  in  Congress.  This  consideration,  however,  proved  merely 
nominal,  as  the  Government  has  seldom  had  recourse  to  that  method  of 
raising  revenue. 

But  the  effects  of  giving  to  the  slave  States  superior  representation 
over  the  free  States  proved  injurious  to  the  Government,  as  it  created  a 
feeling  of  arrogance  and  superiority  among  the  slaveholders,  and  a  cor 
responding  sense  of  inferiority  and  dependence  on  the  part  of  northern 
statesmen. 

But  none  of  the  compromises  operated  further  than  to  secure  the 
States  against  any  prohibition  of  the  slave  trade  for  twenty  years,  and, 
the  enjoyment  of  a  superior  representation  in  Congress. 

Under  the  articles  of  confederation,  each  of  the  several  States  had,  in 
their  sovereign  capacity,  admitted  the  citizens  of  other  States  resident 
with  them  to  enjoy  all  the  rights  and  privileges  which  its  own  citizens 
enjoyed.  Each  also  surrendered  up  offenders  fleeing  from  other  States, 
to  be  taken  back  for  trial  where  the  crimes  had  been  committed.  And 
under  an  assumed  comity,  each  also  gave  up  the  slaves  who  had  escaped 
to  them  from  other  States.  These  acts  were  performed  by  State  author 
ity,  with  which  the  Federal  power  possessed  no  right  to  interfere.  And 
in  framing  the  Federal  Constitution,  the  several  States,  in  plain  and  ob 
vious  language,  stipulated  that  these  practices  should  be  continued,  but 
gave  no  authority  to  Congress,  or  to  the  Federal  Government  to  enforce 
these  stipulations.  And  although  this  was  the  obvious  construction  of 
the  Constitution,  yet  from  abundant  caution  the  tenth  article  of  the 


DEVOTION   TO   LIBEKTT.  13 

Amendments  was  adopted,  declaring  "  that  the  powers  not  delegated  to 
the  United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States, 
are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively  or  to  the  people."  Thus  was  Con 
gress  expressly  prohibited  from  acting  upon  the  subject  contained  in  either 
of  these  clauses  constituting  the  "second  section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the 
Constitution.  But  still  further  to  secure  the  entire  administration  of  the 
Federal  power  to  the  cause  of  freedom,  the  fifth  amendment  provided, 
''that  no  person  shall  be  deprived"  [by  the  United  States]  "of  life,  lib 
erty  or  property  without  due  process  of  law." 

A  large  majority  of  the  Convention  that  framed  the  Constitution  were 
evidently  lovers  of  liberty,  and  supposed  they  had  secured  the  people 
against  all  future  attempts  to  prostitute  the  influence  or  powers  of  the 
nation  to  the  support  of  despotism  in  any  form  ;  and  General  Washing 
ton,  the  first  President  of  the  United  States,  entered  upon  his  official  du 
ties  as  Chief  Magistrate  of  a  free  government,  committed  entirely  to  the 
securing  of  life,  liberty  and  happiness  to  the  entire  people  living  under  its  ex 
clusive  jurisdiction.  No  slave  was  captured  or  held  under  Federal  laws. 
The  northern  States,  acting  in  pursuance  of  the  advice  of  the  old  Con 
gress,  entered  at  once  upon  the  work  of  emancipation  ;  and  philanthro 
pists  looked  forward  to  the  day  as  not  far  distant  when  the  entire  nation 
should  be  free  from  slavery. 

But  the  spirit  of  domination  remained  among  the  people  of  the 
elaveholding  States.  They  had  embraced  the  theory  that  black  men 
were  designed  by  the  Creator  to  act  as  slaves  to  the  white  race.  In 
carrying  this  theory  into  practice,  three  men  from  Virginia,  named  Fran 
cis  McGuire,  Baldwin  Parsons  and  Absolem  Wells,  entered  Washington 
county,  Pennsylvania,  and  seized  a  free  colored  man  named  "John,"  car 
ried  him  to  Virginia,  and  sold  him. 

The  offenders  were  indicted,  and  Governor  Mifflin,  of  Penn- 
sylvania,  demanded  them  for  trial.  But  the  Executive  of  Vir 
ginia  refused  to  deliver  them  according  to  the  stipulation  of  the 
Constitution.  Indeed,  the  Governor  of  that  State  asserted  that  the 
act  of  enslaving  free  colored  men  constituted  only  a  trespass  as  between 
the  parties,  and  a  breach  of  the  peace  between  the  offenders  and  the 
State  ;  and  as  it  was  no  crime,  to  enslave  free  men  under  Virginia  laws, 
there  was  no  sufficient  cause  for  delivering  up  the  men  who  com 
mitted  the  trespass  or  breach  of  the  peace  in  Pennsylvania.  This 
seizing  and  enslaving  a  free  man  of  Pennsylvania,  being  tacitly  jus 
tified  by  the  authorities  of  Virginia,  would  have  constituted  good  cause 
for  war  between  sovereign  States.  But  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania, 
anxious  to  preserve  the  Union  so  recently  formed,  forbore  all  retaliatory 


14;  PETITION  OF  DR.  FRANKLIN. 

measures.  Yet  he  transmitted  an  account  of  the  whole  matter  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  who  laid  the  same  before  Congress.  It 
was,  however,  acknowledged  by  all  that  neither  the  President  nor  Con 
gress  could  act  upon  the  subject,  and  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  submitted 
to  the  outrage  against  her  laws  and  dignity  without  receiving  from  Vir 
ginia  any  reparation  or  apology.* 

The  ruffians  who  kidnapped  and  enslaved  this  free  man,  instead  of 
being  punished  for  the  crime,  were  regarded  as  having  set  an  example 
and  established  a  precedent  for  other  desperate  men,  who,  without  the 
fear  of  punishment,  seized  free  men  in  both  slave  and  free  States,  and 
sold  them  into  bondage. 

1T90  The  Quakers  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Mary- 

*  land  and  Virginia  first  petitioned  Congress  to  pass  laws  prohibit 
ing  the  slave  trade. 

On  the  petition  being  presented  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  no 
member  attempted  any  vindication  of  that  traffic  or  of  slavery.  Those 
from  South  Carolina  stigmatized  the  memorialists  as  "  inter  meddlers  in 
matters  outside  their  appropriate  sphere  of  action." 

On  the  following  day,  however,  a  petition  signed  by  the  venerable 
Dr.  Franklin,  "President  of  the  Society  for  Promoting  the  Abolition  of 
Slavery,  the  Relief  of  Free  Negroes  held  in  Bondage,  and  Improvement 
of  the  African  Race,"  was  presented  for  the  consideration  of  the  House. 
This  memorial,  written  and  signed  by  that  distinguished  philosopher  and 
(statesman,  who  had  served  on  the  committee  appointed  to  draft  the  De 
claration  of  Independence  and  in  the  convention  that  framed  the  Consti 
tution,  set  forth,  "that  mankind  are  all  formed  by  the  same  Almighty 
Being,  alike  objects  of  His  care,  and  equally  designed  for  the  enjoyment 
of  happiness,  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION  TEACHES  us  TO  BELIEVE,  AND  THE 

POLITICAL  CREED  OF  AMERICANS  FULLY  COINCIDES  WITH  THIS  POSITION."     The 

petition  closed  with  the  assertion  that  "  the  blessings  of  liberty  ought 
rightfully  to  be  administered  without  distinction  of  color,  TO  ALL  PEOPLE,"^ 
and  the  memorialist  earnestly  prayed  Congress  "  to  step  to  the  very 
verge  of  their  powers  for  discouraging  every  species  of  traffic  in  the  per 
sons  of  our  fellow  men." 

The  memorial  also  set  forth  in  its  preamble  the  formation  of  the  so 
ciety,  which  had  been  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  stated  that,  "  by  the  blessing  of  Divine  Providence,  its  efforts  had 


*  Vide  American  Archives  of  1790. 

t  These  may  be  regarded  as  the  dying  words  of  that  illustrious  statesman.    He  departed  to  hJ3 

final  rest  a  few  weeks  subsequently. 


PROTECTION  OF  FREE  NEGROES.  15 

been  directed  to  the  relief  from  bondage  of  many  of  their  fellow  creatures 
of  the,  African  race." 

This  public  recognition  of  the  primal  rights  of  human  nature;  particu 
larly  the  equality  of  those  rights  which  God  has  conferred  upon  all  the 
various  members  of  the  human  family;  and  the  assertion  that  "  no  distinc 
tion  should  be  made  on  account  of  color,"  appeared  well  calculated  to 
provoke  denial  by  southern  members.  And  but  few  circumstances  of 
that  day  show  more  clearly  the  sentiment  and  feeling  of  the  American 
people,  than  the  tacit  admission  by  southern  statesmen  of  the  truths 
uttered  in  this  petition.  No  one  denied  that  all  men  were  formed  by 
the  same  Almighty  Being;  that  all  were  endowed  by  heaven  itself  with 
the  right  to  life,  liberty  and  happiness;  nor  did  any  one  deny  the  doctrine 
that  colored  men  have  a  right  to  live,  a  right  to  liberty  and  happiness. 

Yet  members  from  the  slaveholding  States  assailed  the  memo-  ,1T90 
rialist;  and  charged  him  with  hypocrisy.  They  asserted  that  such 
memorials  were  calculated  to  stir  up  the  slaves  to  insurrection,  to  light  the 
flames  of  civil  war;  and  intimated  that  the  lives  of  certain  members  who 
maintained  the  doctrines  of  the  memorial  would  be  endangered,  should 
they  happen  to  be  found  within  certain  slave  States.* 

The  debate  was  continued  at  great  length,  but  the  memorial  was  re 
ferred  to  the  appropriate  committee  by  a  vote  of  43  to  14. 

The  committee  reported  that  Congress  could  not  prohibit  the  slave 
trade  until  1808,  nor  could  it  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States. 

They  expressed  a  confidence  that  the  several  States  would  protect  their 
free  negroes;  asserted  the  right  of  Congress  to  levy  a  tax  on  the  importa 
tion  of  slaves;  to  interdict  their  importation  to  other  nations  in  American 
ships;  to  prohibit  foreigners  from  fitting  out  slave  ships  in  American 
ports;  and  pledged  Congress  to  the  exercise  of  its  constitutional  powers 
for  promoting  the  humane  objects  of  the  memorialists. 

On  this  report  the  debate  was  renewed  with  much  warmth.  The  me 
morialists  were  again  assailed  and  charged  with  interfering  in  business 
which  did  not  concern  them.  The  Quakers  were  charged  generally  with 
having  acted  as  spies  in  the  Revolution,  and  now  making  indirect  attacks 
upon  southern  men.  They  also  insisted  that  the  reprobation  of  slavery 
and  the  slave  trade  by  the  committee  imputed  to  southern  men  the  black 
est  of  crimes;  that  the  admission  that  slavery  was  a  barbarous  institu 
tion  was  a  substantial  admission  that  slaveholders  were  a  barbarous  peo 
ple.  Dr.  Franklin,  at  that  time  venerated  both  in  Europe  and  America 
for  his  love  of  justice  and  his  high  moral  character,  was  personally  assailed 

*  This  is  supposed  to  be  the  first  threat  of  personal  violence  uttered  in  Congress  on  account  of  an 
avowed  love  of  liberty. 


16  FRANKLIN   DEFENDED. 

for  having  avowed  the  principles  on  which  he  had  assisted  in  founding 
our  Government. 

1790  Northern  members  were  more  dispassionate,  but  appeared  equal 
ly  bold  and  determined.  They  disabused  the  memorialists  of  the 
charges  made  against  them,  vindicated  their  doctrines,  and  spoke  with  ab 
horrence  of  the  crimes  described  in  the  memorial;  but  no  further  actioa 
was  then  had  iu  regard  to  the  matter. 


ACT  EESPECTING  FUGITIVE  SLAVES.  17 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  POWERS  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  PROSTITUTED  TO  THE  SUPPORT  AND  ENCOUR 
AGEMENT   OF   SLAVERY. 

THE  Federal  Government  continued  for  seventeen  years  to  main- 
tain  the  rights  of  all  men  under  its  exclusive  jurisdiction,  to  enjoy 
life,  liberty  and  happiness.  Foreign  nations  looked  with  admiration  upon 
this  as  the  only  political  organization  founded  on  the  immutable  prin. 
ciples  of  equal  justice  and  equal  liberty  to  all  members  of  the  human  family. 

But  this  recognition  of  the  divine  attributes  as  the  basis  of  human  gov 
ernment  was  in  advance  of  the  age.  Nor  were  the  American  people  pre 
pared  to  maintain  the  doctrines  in  the  spirit  which  prompted  their  adop 
tion.  The  northern  representatives,  in  framing  the  Constitution,  had 
compromised  their  self-respect  in  yielding  to  the  slave  States  permission 
to  continue  the  slave  trade,  with  its  attendant  crimes,  for  twenty  years; 
and  in  surrendering  to  them  a  superior  influence  in  the  Government,  ac 
cording  to  the  number  of  their  slaves  :  and  now  Congress  was  called 
upon  to  involve  the  nation  in  the  disgraceful  work  of  legislating  for  the 
capture  and  return  of  fugitive  bondmen.  As  we  have  remarked,  there 
was  not  merely  no  authority  in  the  Constitution  for  Congress  to  act  upon 
this  subject;  but  that  power  was  explicitly  declared  "  to  remain  with  the 
several  States  or  with  the  people." 

Nor  can  we  at  this  day  state  the  reasons  which  prompted  the  intro 
duction  of  this  subject:  nor  can  we  name  the  member  of  the  Senate  who 
brought  it  forward.  At  that  time  the  deliberations  and  proceedings  of 
that  body  were  kept  secret  from  the  people.  From  the  annals  of  Con 
gress  we  learn  that  on  the  5th  day  of  February,  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  proceeded  to  consider  a  bill  from  the  Senate,  entitled  "An  Act  re 
specting  fugitives  from  justice,  and  persons  escaping  from  the  service  of 
their  masters."  We  do  not  find  that  any  debate  was  had  upon  it,  but  it 
passed  the  House  of  Representatives  by  a  vote  of  forty-eight  to  seven.* 

The  bill  provided  that  whenever  a  person  owing  service  in  one  State 
should  escape  into  another,  the  person  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may 
be  due,  his  agent  or  attorney,  might  arrest  and  take  him  back  to  the 

•  This  was  the  point  at  which  the  Government  took  Its  departure  from  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the 
Constitution  and  of  the  purposes  and  designs  of  those  who  framed  it. 

2 


18  THE   CONSTITUTION   PROSTITUTED   TO   OPPRESSION. 

State  from  which  he  had  escaped.  The  bill  further  provided,  that  a  fine 
of  five  hundred  dollars  might  be  assessed  upon  any  person  who  should 
harbor  or  conceal  the  fugitive,  or  hinder,  or  obstruct  his  arrest,  or  rescue 
him  after  being  arrested. 

The  passage  of  this  bill  marks  an  important  era  in  the  administration 
of  the  American  Government.  Up  to  that  period  its  legislative  powers 
had  been  exerted  to  secure  (to  the  extent  of  its  jurisdiction)  all  persons  in 
tlie,  enjoyment  of  liberty,  according  to  the  declared  purpose  of  those  who 
achieved  our  independence.  By  passing  this  bill,  Congress  assumed  to  act 
for  the  support  of  slavery,  and  against  that  liberty  which  the  founders  of 
the  republic  declared  that  God  had  conferred  upon  every  human  being, 
and  of  which  the  Constitution  explicitly  assured  the  world  that  no  person 
should  be  deprived,  except  for  crime. 

But  the  powers  ordained  by  the  Constitution  to  support  liberty  were 
now  prostituted  by  Congress  to  uphold  and  secure  slavery:  and  it  were 
in  vain  for  us,  at  this  day,  to  speculate  upon  the  motives  of  those  who 
enacted  this  law.  So  far  as  we  are  informed,  there  was  no  debate,  and 
no  man  assigned  any  reason  for  his  vote.  The  record  indicates  its 
passage  without  any  discussion,  without  attracting  any  particular  atten 
tion  ;  and  probably  northern  members  who  voted  for  it  regarded  the 
subject  as  of  little  importance,  while  slaveholders  must  have  deemed  it 
very  desirable. 

But  the  precedent  thus  set  was  soon  found  to  be  important.  The 
reader  will  recollect,  that  in  our  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain,  His 
Majesty  had  agreed  to  withdraw  his  troops  and  fleets  from  the  United 
States  "  without  carrying  away  any  negroes  or  other  property  of  the  in 
habitants;"  that,  regardless  of  this  stipulation,  the  army  and  navy  of 
England  deported  many  slaves.  The  several  States  from  which  they 
were  carried  could  do  nothing  on  the  subject,  and,  although  the  clause 
was  designed  to  uphold  slavery,  it  had  been  inserted  at  the  instance  of 
Mr.  Laurens,  without  instruction  from  the  Executive,  who  appears  to  have 
felt  little  anxiety  in  regard  to  it.  But  as  Congress  had  now  acted  for  the 
support  of  that  institution,  the  owners  of  deported  slaves  became  clamor 
ous  for  indemnity;  and  the  President  was  importuned  to  obtain  it  from 
Great  Britain. 

As  Congress  had  assumed  the  duty  of  protecting  and  upholding  slavery 
in  the  States,  the  President  appears  to  have  felt  unwilling  further  to  re 
fuse  action  in  favor  of  the  institution,  although  he  had  long  been  anxious 
to  abolish  it.  With  Europeans,  precedents,  in  matters  of  legislation,  were 
regarded  as  of  binding  force;  and  this  practice  naturally  commended 
itself  to  the  statesmen  of  our  country,  who  did  not  at  that  time  appear 


JAY'S  TREATY.  19 

to  realize  that  a  republican  government  could  only  be  sustained  by  repu 
diating  vicious  precedents. 

Fortunately,  Judge  Jay,  of  New  York,  was  appointed  minister 
plenipotentiary  to  negotiate  the  "  treaty  of  amity,  commerce  and 
navigation  with  Great  Britain."  He  was  instructed  to  demand  of  that 
government  a  compensation  for  the  slaves  deported  after  the  signing  of 
the  treaty  of  peace  in  1*183.  The  demand  was  accordingly  made;  but 
the  reply  of  Lord  Grenville  was  satisfactory  to  our  minister,  who,  in  his 
report  to  our  Government,  pronounced  the  claim  "  odious,"  evidently  feel 
ing  that  it  was  derogatory  to  the  American  Government  to  espouse  the 
claims  of  men  who  professed  to  hold  their  fellow  beings  as  property.  The 
treaty  was  concluded  without  any  reference  to  those  claims;  was  approv 
ed  by  President  Washington  and  his  Cabinet,  and  was  ratified  by  the 
Senate. 

But  a  minority  of  the  Senate  were  dissatisfied  with  the  Execu. 
tive  for  failing  to  obtain  compensation  for  the  owners  of  deported 
slaves ;  and  Mr.  Gun,  of  Georgia,  presented  to  that  body  a  preamble  and 
resolution  in  the  following  language: 

"  Whereas,  it  was  claimed  that  many  negroes  and  other  property  had 
been  carried  away  by  the  British  army,  in  contravention  of  the  1th  ar 
ticle  of  our  treaty  with  Great  Britain  of  1183;  therefore  resolved,  that 
the  President  be  required  to  renew  negotiations  on  that  subject,  and  if 
unable  to  obtain  indemnity  under  the  treaty,  that  he  may  urge  its  allow 
ance  as  a  matter  tending  to  cherish  the  desired  friendship  between  the  two 
governments." 

This  bold  proposition  for  placing  the  Federal  Government  in  the  atti 
tude  of  exerting  its  moral  influence  before  the  civilized  world  in  favor  of 
treating  men  as  property,  was  maintained  with  zeal  and  ability  and  was 
debated  at  length,  and  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  one  vote* 

While  these  efforts  were  being  put  forth  to  commit  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  more  fully  to  the  support  of  this  system  of  oppression,  the  Quak 
ers  of  the  free  States,  and  of  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,  remained  true  to  that  holy  influence  in  favor  of  justice  and 
liberty,  which  constitutes  an  essential  element  of  their  religion.  They 
continued  annually  to  petition  Congress  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade,  for  the  protection  of  free  negroes,  and  to  prohibit  the  building  of 
slave  ships  in  American  ports  by  the  people  of  other  nations.  And  a 
law  was  passed  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  slaves  from  the  United 


*  Mr.  Hunter,  of  Virginia,  attempted  to  renew  this  claim  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  si^ty 
years  subsequently. 


20  FRAUDULENT  TREATIES. 

States  to  other  nations,  and  forbidding  the  people  of  other  governments 
from  fitting  out  slave  ships  in  the  ports  of  the  United  States. 

But  one  of  the  most  insidious  methods  of  involving  the  people  of  the 
free  States  in  the  support  of  slavery,  was  that  by  which  the  Federal 
Government  stipulated  with  southern  Indian  tribes  for  the  arrest  and 
return  of  fugitive  slaves. 

Early  as  1705,  slaves  in  South  Carolina  left  their  masters  and  fled  to 
the  Creek  Indians,  where  they  were  received  with  hospitality.  They  at 
length  found  their  way  to  Florida  and  settled  upon  the  Appalachicola 
River.  They  obtained  lands  of  the  Spanish  crown,  and  as  early  as  1735 
were  enrolled  as  a  part  of  the  military  defence  of  that  territory.  Other 
slaves  fled  from  Georgia,  and  found  an  asylum  with  the  Creek  Indians. 
In  the  years  1785,  '86,  and  '87,  the  State  of  Georgia,  in  direct  violation 
of  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  made  three  several  treaties  with  the 
Creeks  for  the  purchase  of  lands  and  return  of  fugitive  slaves.  These 
treaties  were  declared  to  be  fraudulent  and  void  by  the  Indians,  and 
at  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  that  State  was  engaged  in  war  in  con 
sequence  of  these  fraudulent  treaties,  signed  by  chiefs  and  warriors  who 
had  no  other  than  a  fabulous  existence.* 

Soon  as  the  Constitution  was  framed,  the  State  of  Georgia  hastened 
to  adopt  it,  and  at  once  called  on  the  National  Executive  to  protect  her 
people  against  the  hostile  Indians. 

General  Washington  exerted  the  influence  of  the  Government  to  obtain 
a  treaty  and  permanent  peace  with  the  Indians.  The  treaty  was  effected 
at  New  York,  in  1790,  and  contained  an  express  stipulation  for  the  return 
of  fugitive  slaves.  But  the  slaves  then  resident  with  the  Indians  at  once 
fled  to  Florida,  and  united  with  their  brethren  who  resided  on  the 
Appalachicola  River. 

The  Executive  of  Georgia  complained  that  the  Indians  did  not  return 
the  fugitives  according  to  stipulation,  and  called  on  the  President  for  a 
further  treaty,  which  was  agreed  to,  and  Commissioners  for  negotiating 
it  were  nominated  to  the  Senate  and  approved  by  that  body. 

But  long  before  the  meeting  for  negotiating  the  treaty  was  to  take 
place,  the  Executive  of  Georgia  furnished  the  Commissioners  with  a  list 
of  one  hundred  and  ten  slaves,  who  were  said  to  have  fled  from  planta 
tions  in  that  State.  The  return  of  these  slaves  was  peremptorily 
demanded,  and  the  Commissioners  were  informed  that  "  the  people  of 
Georgia  would  abide,  by  no  treaty  in  which  her  Commissioners  were  not 
urnsulted" 

•  F«d«  "  Exiles  of  Florida  "  and  authorities  there  cited. 


SOUTHERN   PROTESTATIONS.  21 

I 

The  Indians  denied  that  those  slaves  were  living  with  them ;  but  asserted 
that  they  were  with  the  Seminoles  in  Florida  ;  that  the  Spanish  author 
ities  would  not  deliver  them  up,  and  that  the  Creeks  were  unable  to 
capture  them. 

The  Secretary  of  War,  General  Knox,  in  view  of  the  clifficul- 
ties  surrounding  this  question,  recommended  that  Congress  should 
appropriate  money  to  pay  for  these  slaves.  The  President  transmitted 
this  suggestion  to  Congress,  when  it  was  read  and  laid  on  the  table. 
The  treaty  was  entered  into  at  "  Colerain,"  and  several  negroes  were 
delivered  to  the  authorities  of  Georgia  at  the  time  of  making  it  ;  and 
the  Indians  renewed  their  promise  to  capture  and  return  others  soon  as 
able  to  do  so.* 

At  that  time  the  popular  mind  had  become  so  far  diverted  from  the 
doctrines  and  spirit  which  guided  the  patriots  who  framed  the  Constitu 
tion,  that  no  objections  appear  to  have  been  made  to  this  covenant  for 
capturing  and  returning  fugitive  slaves,  in  either  House  of  Congress. 

But  during  the  last  session  of  the  Third  Congress,  while  a  bill  for  the 
naturalization  of  foreigners  was  before  the  House  of  Representatives, 
Mr.  Giles,  of  Virginia,  moved  an  amendment,  providing  that  every 
applicant  for  naturalization  should  renounce  all  titles  of  nobility  before 
being  admitted  to  citizenship. 

Mr.  Dexter,  of  Massachusetts,  proposed  to  amend  the  amendment  by 
adding  a  clause  requiring  such  applicant  to  emancipate  all  slaves  which 
he  might  hold  in  bondage. 

The  proposition,  though  in  perfect  accordance  with  republican  insti 
tutions,  excited  much  feeling  among  slaveholding  members,  who  insisted 
that  it  was  insulting  to  the  dignity  of  the  southern  portion  of  the  Union. 
They  averred  that  the  slave  States,  since  the  Revolution,  had  given  a 
hearty  support  to  the  Government.  Indeed,  they  appeared  perfectly  un 
conscious  of  that  logic  which  teaches  that  no  man  could  sincerely  believe 
that  God  had  endowed  all  men  with  an  imprescriptible  right  to  liberty, 
while  honestly  holding  his  fellow  men  in  slavery. 

The  Fourth  Congress  was  distinguished  by  the  numerous  im- 
portant  measures  on  which  it  was  called  to  act.  It  became  neces 
sary  to  make  an  appropriation  of  money  to  carry  into  effect  the  treaty 
which  had  recently  been  negotiated  with  Great  Britain  and  ratified  by 
the  Senate.  When  the  bill  making  this  appropriation  came  under  con 
sideration  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  advocates  of  slavery  stated 


*  Vide  American  State  Papers,  Vol.  II.,  "Indian  Affairs."    Also  the  "  Exiles  of  Florida"  and 
authorities  quoted  in  that  work. 


22  OPPOSITION  TO  JAY'S  TREATY. 

* 

that  their  principal  objection  to  it  arose  in  consequence  of  the  treaty 
having  failed  to  secure  a  compensation  for  deported  slaves.  Daring  this 
debate  northern  members  exhibited  greater  delicacy  than  had  previously 
characterized  the  discussion  of  slavery.  They  were  cautious,  avoiding  all 
reference  to  primal  doctrines.  They  seemed  tacitly  to  admit  that  the 
Government  might  with  propriety  have  insisted  on  full  indemnity  for  the 
loss  of  the  slaveholders  ;  yet  as  it  was  evident  that  a  refusal  to  abide  by 
the  treaty  would  bring  war  again  upon  the  nation,  they  insisted  that  it 
were  better  to  make  the  appropriation.  Southern  'members,  however, 
remained  firm  in  their  opposition,  and  after  a  very  protracted  debate,  the 
appropriation  was  carried  by  fifty-one  votes  in  the  affirmative  to  forty- 
eight  in  the  negative,  and  the  claims  for  deported  slaves  was  thus  dis 
posed  of  apparently  to  the  mortification  of  southern  members. 

In  May,  A.D.  17*16,  the  Quakers  of  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  and 
Delaware,  at  their  yearly  meetings,  resolved  to  withdraw  Christian  fel 
lowship  from  those  members  of  their  order  who  should  continue  to  hold 
slaves.  In  obedience  to  this  expression  of  their  church,  most  of  their 
members  who  resided  in  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia  and  North  Caro 
lina  emancipated  their  slaves.  The  persons  thus  set  free  had  been  bred 
in  bondage  and  ignorance,  and  most  of  them  were  stupid  and  slow  of  ap 
prehension.  Desperate  men  were  in  the  habit  of  seizing  these  people, 
taking  them  South  and  selling  them  into  bondage.  The  people  of  thoso 
States  and  of  Pennsylvania  sent  numerous  petitions  to  Congress,  asking 
that  body  to  pass  suitable  laws  for  securing  these  emancipated  slaves  ill 
the  enjoyment  of  their  liberty. 

This  appeal  to  Congress  to  maintain  the  rights  for  the  support  of  which 
the  Government  had  been  founded  attracted  attention.  A  resolution 
directing  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  "  to  report  a  bill  to  prevent 
the  kidnapping  of  free  negroes  and  mulattoes,"  was  adopted,  and  the 
Committee  reported  a  bill,  but  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  called  up 
for  action.  Indeed,  northern  members  appeared  timid  and  unwilling  to 
bring  forward  any  subject  offensive  to  their  southern  friends. 

This  feeling  was  further  manifested  on  a  bill  to  raise  revenue  by  direct 
taxation  upon  slaves.  It  was  reported  in  obedience  to  a  resolution  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  but  no  further  action  was  had  upon  it. 

The  Quakers  of  North  Carolina,  in  obedience  to  the  canons 
of  their  church  adopted  in  1716,  declaring  that  no  member  should 
hold  slaves,  emancipated  their  bondsmen.  The  number  of  persons  thus 
set  free  is  unknown.  But  certain  individuals  entertained  the  opinion  that 
men  had  no  right  thus  to  emancipate  the  servants  whom  they  had  held 
in  bondage,  and  they  seized  the  emancipated  people  as  fugitives  from 


BARBARISM   OF  NORTH   CAROLINA.  23 

service.  The  Quakers  applied  to  the  judiciary,  and  were  at  first  de 
feated.  But  they  appealed  to  the  court  of  dernier  resort,  and  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  final  judgment  declaring  the  right  of  every  master  to  eman 
cipate  his  slaves.  By  this  decision  several  hundred,  perhaps  a  thousand, 
slaves  were  transformed  into  free  citizens  of  that  State.  But  this  eman 
cipation  by  the  Quakers  originated  in  religious  principle,  which  seemed 
to  imply  that  those  who  continued  to  hold  slaves  could  not  be  regarded 
as  conforming  to  religious  duty.  Slaveholders  were  restless  under  this 
implied  reproof,  and  petitioned  the  Legislature  of  that  State  to  devise 
means  for  remedying  what  they  termed  "  the  evils  of  emancipation." 

The  Legislature  did  not  hesitate  to  pass  an  act  authorizing  men  who 
held  a  certain  amount  of  real  estate  to  capture  and  reenslave  the  persons 
previously  emancipated,  excepting  those  who  had  served  in  the  army  of  the 
Revolution. 

But  the  class  of  men  thus  authorized  to  capture  and  enslave  their  fel 
low-beings  were  educated  and  unwilling  to  engage  in  such  piratical  work, 
and  they  unanimously  refused  to  enter  upon  it.  Under  these  circum 
stances,  the  Legislature  passed  an  amendatory  act,  authorizing  any  per 
sons  to  arrest  those  who  had  been  emancipated,  and  on  proof  being  made 
that  they  had  been  thus  set  free,  they  were  to  be  sold  at  public  auction 
to  interminable  servitude. 

Nor  should  the  feelings  of  men  at  the  present  age  be  shocked  at  this 
manifestation  of  barbarism  by  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina.  If  it 
be  once  admitted  that  legislatures  or  governments  may  in  any  case 
murder  or  enslave  innocent  persons,  the  time  and  occasion  for  doing  it 
must  rest  entirely  with  those  who  possess  the  power.  The  effect  of  this 
legislative  act  was  precisely  that  which  was  intended  by  those  voting  for 
it — men  of  desperate  character,  gamblers,  horse-thieves  and  outlaws  en 
gaged  in  hunting  and  capturing  these  helpless  and  almost  friendless  peo 
ple.  The  Quakers  assisted  them  so  far  as  they  were  able.  They  secreted 
some  and  fed  them  until  an  opportunity  was  presented  for  their  escape. 
We  have  no  authentic  account  of  the  number  recaptured  in  North  Caro 
lina.*  Nor  have  we  any  data  by  which  to  arrive  at  the  "number  who 
were  captured  under  the  fugitive  act  after  reaching  other  States  and  car 
ried  back  to  North  Carolina  and  sold  into  bondage.  Many  are  said  to 
have  stopped  in  Virginia  and  Maryland,  where  the  State  laws  regard  all 
colored  persons  as  slaves  who  cannot  prove  their  freedom.  These  were 
said  to  have  been  seized  and  sold  into  slavery  in  those  States,  where  such 

*  The  records  of  tho  Court  of  Appeals  for  the  compiles  of  Perquimans,  Pasquotank  and  Chowan 
Ehow  that  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  of  thoBe  emancipated  people  vrero  sold  by  the  Sheriff  in 
one  day. 


24:  PRIMAL   TRUTHS   DISCARDED. 

transactions  were  so  frequent  as  to  excite  no  particular  attention.  Others 
reached  Pennsylvania,  where  they  recognized  the  Quakers  as  friends  of 
humanity,  and  making  them  acquainted  with  their  situation,  were  pro 
vided  for  and  protected.  Others,  fleeing  to  Philadelphia,  where  Congress 
was  sitting,  were  seized  under  the  fugitive  act  and  imprisoned  in  that  city. 
While  thus  imprisoned,  they  drew  up  a  short  history  of  the  persecutions 
to  which  they  had  been  subjected.  To  this  was  attached  a  petition  and 
prayer  for  relief,  and  this  memorial  was  sent  to  Congress,  then  in  session. 
Mr.  Swanwick,  of  Pennsylvania,  presented  their  petition  to  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  moved  "its  reference  to  a  select  committee." 

Mr.  Blount,  of  North  Carolina,  hoped  the  petition  would  not  be  're 
ceived.  He  believed  they  were  slaves  under  the  laws  of  North  Carolina, 
although  they  had  been  manumitted  by  their  masters  and  pronounced 
free  by  the  courts  of  that  State,  and  admitted  to  be  so  by  the  Legislature 
which  had  provided  for  their  reenslavement. 

Mr.  Thatcher,  of  Massachusetts,  did  not  regard  them  as  slaves.  He 
thought  the  petitions  should  be  sent  to  the  committee  on  the  fugitive 
slave  law,  which  should  be  so  modified  as  to  protect  such  people. 

Mr.  Blount  replied  somewhat  arrogantly,  asserting  that  they  were 
slaves,  and  ought  not  to  be  allowed  the  right  of  petition  until  they  should 
prove  their  freedom. 

Mr.  Sitgreaves,  of  Pennsylvania,  would  reverse  the  rule  laid  down  by 
Mr.  Blount,  and  allow  them  the  right  of  petition,  until  they  were  proven 
to  be  slaves. 

Mr.  Smith,  of  South  Carolina,  would  have  the  petition  sealed  up  and 
sent  back  to  the  petitioners. 

Mr.  Christie,  of  Maryland,  said  it  was  useless  to  send  this  memorial  to 
a  committee,  as  the  petitioners  could  not  prove  whether  they  were  slaves  or 
not ;  and  he  hoped  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Swanwick, 
would  never  present  another  such  petition. 

Mr.  Varnum,  of  Massachusetts,  hoped  the  petition  would  be  referred. 
He  stated  that  the  petitioners  complained  of  the  fugitive  act,  and  their 
complaints  ought  to  be  listened  to  and  their  grievances  redressed. 

From  these  extracts  the  reader  will  judge  of  the  character  of  the  de 
bate.  No  more  grave  question  was  ever  presented  to  any  legislative 
body.  It  involved  the  fundamental  principles  which  lie  at  the  basis  of 
all  human  governments.  The  first  question  presented  was  :  "  Did  the 
members  of  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina  possess  the  legitimate,  the' 
moral,  or  the  just  power  to  enslave  these  innocent  persons  ?  By  placing 
their  mandate  upon  the  statute  book  in  the  form  of  a  law,  declaring  the 
manner  in  which  these  men  and  women  should  be  captured  and  enslaved, 


FKEE  PERSONS  ENSLAVED.  25 

did  they  impose  any  moral  obligation  npon  them  to  submit  and  become 
slaves  ?  Did  they  confer  any  moral  or  legitimate  authority  upon  gamb 
lers,  horse  thieves  and  outlaws,  to  enslave  those  victims  ?  Had  these 
people  in  defending  their  liberties  slain  the  bloodhounds,  horse  thieves 
and  gamblers,  would  they  have  committed  any  moral  wrong  in  so 
doing  ?" 

The  fugitive  act  was  also  used  to  ree'nslave  those  persons  who  had 
been  set  free ;  and  Congress  and  the  free  States  were  thus  involved  in  the 
support  of  this  barbarism  of  North  Carolina;  but  these  considerations 
failed  to  secure  even  a  reception  for  the  petition.  The  House,  by  an  ex 
hibition  of  subservience  to  the  slave  power  unworthy  of  the  representa 
tives  of  a  free  people,  refused  to  receive  the  petition,  only  thirty-three 
members  voting  in  favor  of  its  reception,  while  fifty  voted  against  it. 

From  the  commencement  of  the  Government,  it  had  been  a  subject  of 
constant  complaint,  that  free  negroes  and  mulattoes  were  kidnapped  in 
the  free  States,  carried  South  and  enslaved.  The  subject  was  one  on 
which  Congress  was  frequently  memorialized,  and  during  the  session  of 
1197  a  Committee  of  the  House  was  appointed  to  consider  these  memo 
rials. 

Mr.  Swanwick,  of  Pennsylvania,  from  that  committee,  made  a  short 
report,  stating  the  opinion  of  the  committee  that  the  subject  had  bet 
ter  be  left  to  the  action  of  the  several  States  ;  although  it  appears 
that  his  own  State,  at  that  very  time,  could  not  protect  the  free  men  and 
women  who  had  fled  to  it  from  North  Carolina,  because  of  the  fugitive 
law  which  Congress  maintained  and  kept  in  force.* 

Congress  had  assumed  the  support  of  slavery  in  1793,  and,  in  ,1T98 
the  short  space  of  five  years,  appears  to  have  come  almost  entirely 
under  the  control  of  the  slave  interest.  During  this  period  no  measure 
tending  directly  in  favor  of  freedom  had  received  the  sanction  of  Con 
gress,  except  that  of  excluding  foreign  slavedealers  from  fitting  out  their 
vessels  in  American  ports.  Yet  southern  men  entirely  discarded  the  idea 
of  rendering  slavery  permanent.  On  the  contrary,  they  spoke  of  the  in 
stitution  deprecatingly,  declared  their  abhorrence  of  it,  and  assured  their 
northern  friends  that  they  hoped  at  some  day  to  see  it  abolished.  These 
declarations  led  northern  members  to  sympathize  with  them,  to  regard 
slavery  as  a  burden  which  they  were  willing  to  assist  in  bearing:  yet  in 
dividual  members  were  occasionally  led  to  the  expression  of  principles 
that  were  offensive  to  slaveholders.  Thus,  when  the  bill  to  organize  a  ter- 

*  Sixty  years  subsequently  the  slave  States  complained  of  such  enactments  by  the  free  States, 
and  finally  assigned  the  passage  of  laws  for  the  protection  of  free  colored  persons  as  one  of  the 
causes  of  the  rebellion  of  1861. 


26  PRIMAL   TETJTHS    ASSEETED. 

ritorial  government  in  Mississippi  was  under  consideration,  Mr.  Thatcher, 
of  Massachusetts,  offered  an  amendment  excluding  slavery  from  the  terri 
tory,  although  Georgia  had  claimed  it  as  a  part  of  that  State  and  had 
by  her  laws  established  slavery  therein,  and  now  consented  to  its  being 
transferred  to  the  United  States  upon  condition  that  slavery  should  not 
be  abolished.  The  mover  declared  that  his  motion  was  made  in  order  to 
sustain  the  "rights  of  man." 

Mr.  Harper,  of  South  Carolina,  did  not  believe  the  motion  was  a  pro 
per  mode  of  sustaining  "  the  rights  of  man."  If  sustained,  he  said  it 
would  banish  every  slaveholder  from  the  territory,  and  exclude  those  who 
were  absent. 

Mr.  Yarnum,  of  Massachusetts,  insisted  that  where  a  part  of  our  spe 
cies  where  held  in  bondage,  there  could  be  no  proper  respect  for  the  rights 
of  humanity.  He  hoped  that  Congress  would  so  far  respect  those  rights 
as  not  to  legislate  slavery  any  further  than  it  then  existed.  He  "looked 
upon  the  holding  of  blacks  in  slavery  in  this  country  to  be  equally  criminal 
with  that  of  the  Algerines  in  carrying  our  citizens  into  slavery." 

To  these  distinct  charges  of  barbarous  despotism  no  southern  man 
took  exception,  otherwise  than  to  complain  that  it  was  calculated  to  stir 
up  ill  feeling  in  the  South  and  to  diminish  the  value  of  slave  property. 
The  debate  on  this  proposition  was  somewhat  protracted  and  was  char 
acterized  by  frequent  allusions  to  the  "  inalienable  rights  of  men,"  although 
the  speakers  appeared  to  regard  the  American  Republic  as  actually  sus 
taining  slavery,  and  only  twelve  votes  were  cast  in  favor  of  Mr.  Thatch 
er's  proposed  amendment. 

But  while  Congress  and  the  great  body  of  the  people  appeared  to  have 
lost  sight  of  the  essential  objects  for  which  the  Government  had  been  es 
tablished;  and  instead  of  exerting  its  influence  and  constitutional  powers 
to  secure  liberty,  was  actually  prostituting  those  powers  to  establish  slav 
ery,  the  Quakers  remained  faithful  to  their  religion  and  to  mankind.  They 
deeply  sympathized  with  their  brethren  in  North  Carolina,  who  were 
suffering  persecution  for  having  given  freedom  to  their  slaves  ;  and  at 
their  yearly  meeting  they  adopted  a  memorial  to  Congress,  solemnly  in 
voking  that  body  "  to  take  into  consideration  the  circumstances  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty-four  persons,  and  many  others,  whose  cases  had  not 
been  made  public,  recently  emancipated  in  North  Carolina  by  members 
of  their  church  and  again  enslaved  under  authority  of  retrospective  laws 
of  that  State."  "  Husbands,  wives  and  children  (said  they)  are  separated 
from  each  other,  and,  with  acts  of  a  similar  nature  practised  in  other 
States,  has  a  tendency  to  bring  down  the  judgments  of  a  righteous  God 
upon  our  land."  The  memorial  also  referred  to  the  "  solemn  pledge  of 


FUGITIVE   LAW   BARBAROUS.  27 

the  Continental  Congress  of  1774,  not  to  engage  in  the  slave  trade  or  to 
purchase  slaves  that  should  thereafter  be  imported."* 

Mr.  Gallatin,  a  member  of  high  moral  and  political  position,  presented 
this  memorial  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  moved  its  second 
reading.  Southern  members  opposed  this  motion,  charging  the  Quakers 
with  impertinently  troubling  the  House  with  this  subject,  which  tended  to 
stir  up  the  slaves  of  the  South  to  inflict  calamities  of  far  greater  conse 
quence  than  the  evils  then  existing:  They  referred  to  events  then  trans 
piring  in  St.  Domingo,  and  insisted  that  the  memorialists  were  endeavor 
ing  to  stir  up  similar  scenes  in  the  United  States,  and  one  member  insult 
ingly  proposed  to  lay  the  memorial  under  the  table.  They,  however, 
admitted  that  the  fugitive  slave  act  was  greatly  complained  of,  and  ex 
pressed  a  willingness  that  its  abuses  should  be  inquired  into ;  but  insisted 
that  the  law  of  North  Carolina  was  valid,  declared  that  the  State  had  a 
right  to  reenslave  the  persons  set  free  by  the  Quakers,  and  that  Con 
gress  was  bound  to  sustain  her  in  that  legislation. 

In  this  debate  southern  statesmen  first  publicly  threatened  to  dissolve 
the  Union,  if  Congress  persisted  in  discussing  the  subject  of  slavery. 
They  declared  that  a  prejudice  then  existed  in  the  South,  that  the  north 
ern  and  eastern  States  were  opposed  to  "  this  kind  of  property,  with 
which  they  had  no  right  to  interfere." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  right  of  petition  was  maintained  and  the  char 
acter  of  the  Quakers  was  vindicated,  and  great  abhorrence  of  the  barbar 
ous  character  of  North  Carolina  legislation  expressed.  The  motion 
for  a  second  reading  of  the  memorial  and  its  commitment  to  a  select 
committee  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  fifty-nine  in  the  affirmative,  which, 
being  a  majority  of  all  the  members,  the  negative  was  not  counted  ;  and 
although  perhaps  the  only  legitimate  remedy  sought  by  the  memorial 
was  a  repeal  of  the  fugitive  slave  law,  yet  the  committee,  in  their  report, 
did  not  even  refer  to  that  act,  but  stated  that  the  evils  complained  of 
were  only  to  be  remedied  by  the  several  States. 

The  traffic  in  African  slaves  still  continued,  and  although  Con- 
gress  could  not  prohibit  it  until  A.D.  1808,  yet  they  had  the 
power  to  prohibit  the  fitting  out  of  slave  ships  by  other  nations  in  our 
own  ports,  and  to  prohibit  Americans  from  exporting  slaves  from  the 
United  States  to  other  governments.  Th'e  law  of  1795  on  this  subject 
had  proven  ineffectual,  and  slaves  were  still  purchased  in  American  ports 

*  This  reference  to  "  acts  of  a  similar  nature"  is  not  very  clearly  expressed ;  but  is  presumed  to 
refer  to  the  kidnapping  of  free  colored  men  in  Delaware,  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  and  carry 
ing  them  South  and  selling  them  as  slaves,  a  subject  on  which  the  Quakers  often  petitioned  Coa- 
gress. 


28  COASTWISE   SLAVE   TRADE, 

and  carried  to  New  Orleans,  to  Cuba  and  other  West?  India  islands. 
But  the  manner  in  which  Congress  had  treated  petitions  on  this  subject 
created  distrust  among  the  people,  and  it  appeared  necessary  for  that 
body  to  take  some  action  testifying  its  fidelity  to  the  cause  of  liberty.  A 
bill  was  therefore  introduced  to  the  consideration  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  prohibiting  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  from  engaging 
in  the  slave  trade  except  in  the  manner  pointed  out  by  the  laws  of  some 
State  of  the  Union. 

Mr.  Brown,  of  Rhode  Island,  opposed  the  bill.  He  could  not  see  why 
Americans  should  be  prohibited  from  engaging  in  this  commerce,  which 
he  declared  was  very  profitable,  making  a  market  for  an  immense  quan 
tity  of  New  England  rum,  thereby  aiding  and  encouraging  the  distille 
ries  of  that  section  of  the  Union. 

Mr.  Nicholas,  of  Virginia,  said  he,  with  many  other  southern  members, 
was  constrained  to  hold  slaves,  not  from  choice,  but  from  necessity,  but 
hoped  that  at  no  distant  day  his  State  would  be  free  from  that  curse. 
He  was  anxious  to  see  whether  there  was  another  member  willing  to  unite, 
with  Mr.  Brown  in  opposition  to  the  bill. 

The  bill,  however,  did  not  prevent  men  from  following  the  slave  trade 
"  under  the  laws  of  any  State,"  and  therefore  the  members  from  southern 
States  voted  for  the  bill  with  the  exceptions  of  Messrs.  Huger  and  Rut- 
ledge,  of  South  Carolina;  Mr.  Brown,  of  Rhode  Island,  and  Mr.  Dickson, 
of  North  Carolina. 

1800 ,  The  coastwise  slave  trade  was  carried  on  at  the  period  to  which 
we  are  referring  in  a  most  barbarous  manner  from  Maryland, 
Delaware  and  Virginia  to  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  The  victims  of 
this  traffic  were  kept  in  utter  ignorance  of  their  sale  until  the  slave  mer 
chant  had  purchased  the  desired  number  and  prepared  to  transport  them 
to  market.  They  were  then  taken  to  the  place  of  rendezvous  and  im 
prisoned  in  cellars  and  jails  at  or  near  some  port  until  they  were  hurried 
on  board  the  vessel  designed  to  carry  them  South.  At  the  moment  of 
going  on  board  they  were  usually  joined  by  free  colored  persons  who  had 
been  arrested  under  professed  authority  of  the  fugitive  slave  law,  and 
others  who  had  been  kidnapped  without  such  pretense,  and  all  were 
crowded  together  in  the  hold  of  some  small  vessel  and  carried  to  the  bar- 
racoons  of  South  Carolina  or  Georgia.  These  offences  were  perpetrated 
with  perfect  impunity,  and  probably  at  no  period  of  American  history 
has  the  slave  power  ruled  our  nation  with  more  despotic  sway  than  at 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  Quakers  had  been  treated  with  such  disrespect  and  their  memorials 
BO  long  disregarded,  that  for  the  time  they  ceased  to  petition  Congress  on 


EXULTATION    OF    SLAVEHOLDERS.  29 

the  subject  of  crimes  which  had  become  so  familiar  as  to  lose  the  horrors 
with  which  good  men  had  viewed  them  ;  but  the  free  people  of  color  in 
Philadelphia  and  vicinity  sent  to  Congress  a  memorial  stating  the  facts 
referred  to,  and  prayed  protection  and  relief  from  that  body. 

The  memorial  was  respectfully  presented  and  its  reference  to  a  com 
mittee  moved.  Southern  members  hoped  it  would  be  laid  on  the  table 
and  never  again  called  np.  They  spoke  of  the  "  colored  gentlemen"  who 
had  signed  the  petition  in  the  most-  bitter  irony,  wishing  northern  mem 
bers  joy  in  their  new  association  with  negroes ;  said  they  too  had  colored 
men,  but  they  were  slaves,  and  they  thanked  God  that  they  were  slaves, 
and  not  at  liberty  to  cut  their  masters'  throats.  They  referred  with  great 
apparent  contempt  to  the  "  new  fangled  French  philosophy"  that  proposed 
universal  freedom,  and  declared  it  injurious  to  discuss  the  subjects  embraced 
in  the  petition.* 

This  is  believed  to  be  the  first  instance  in  which  even  southern  mem 
bers  of  Congress  publicly  expressed  gratification  that  slavery  existed 
among  them.  They  had,  however,  constantly  exhibited  an  increasing 
self-importance  and  assurance  from  the  time  that  Congress  consented  to 
act  in  favor  of  "  the  institution."  On  the  present  occasion  northern 
members  replied  that  the  fugitive  slave  law  was  introduced  by  southern 
members,  who  solicited  their  northern  brethren  to  vote  for  it.  That  it  now 
contributed  to  aid  those  piratical  kidnappers  who  captured  freemen  and 
enslaved  them.  Its  repeal  was  therefore  a  subject  of  legitimate  debate. 
The  matter  was  finally  referred  to  a  select  committee,  who  made  no  re 
port,  and  the  proposition  was  no  more  agitated  at  that  session. 

The  historian  would  be  unfaithful  to  the  cause  of  freedom  were 
he  silent  as  to  the  great  service  rendered  to  advancing  civilization 
by  Mr.  Jefferson  on  coming  into  the  office  of  President. 

Even  while  the  convention  that  framed  the  Constitution  was  in  session 
it  was  seen  that  two  opinions  were  entertained  by  the  founders  of  our 
Government.  One  class  of  statesmen  were  in  favor  of  retaining  so  much 
of  the  monarchal  principle  as  in  their  opinion  was  necessary  to  constitute 
a  strong  government.  The  other  were  in  favor  of  leaving  as  much  power 
in  the  hands  of  the  people  as  could  be  left  with  them  and  yet  establish 
a  government  with  sufficient  authority  to  execute  its  laws.  Mr.  Hamil 
ton  became  the  leader  of  the  former  party,  which  guided  the  legislative 
action  of  Congress  during  the  administration  of  both  Presidents,  Wash 
ington  and  the  elder  Adams.  The  latter  party  was  led  by  Mr.  Jeffer- 

*  '"he  French  Assembly  of  Deputies  had  declared   liberty  to  the  slaves  in  their  Week  India 


30  POLITICAL   PARTIES. 

son,  who  insisted  upon  a  strict  construction  of  the  Constitution,  declaring 
that  Congress  possessed  no  authority  to  legislate  on  any  subject  unless 
expressly  authorized  to  do  so  ly  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

The  Federalists,  under  Mr.  Hamilton,  insisted  that  Congress  could  legis 
late  under  implied  authority  of  the  Constitution  whenever  that  body 
should  deem  such  legislation  necessary. 

In  1798,  in  a  time  of  peace,  Congress  passed  an  act  to  punish  persons 
who  should  conspire  to  oppose  any  measure  of  Government  or  impede 
the  operation  of  any  law,  or  intimidate  any  officer  in  executing  any  law, 
"or  should  publish  any  false,  malicious  or  defamatory  words  against  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  or  against  either  House  of  Congress,  or 
against  the  President,  or  should  excite  against  them  or  either  of  them  the 
hatred  of  the  people." 

Mr.  Jefferson  and  the  Republican  party  denied  that  Congress  pos 
sessed  any  Constitutional  authority  whatever  to  pass  such  a  law.  That 
as  in  doing  this  Congress  had  overstepped  its  authority,  the  act  must  be 
void ;  that  it  possessed  no  element  of  law,  imposed  no  obligation,  and 
conferred  no  authority  on  any  person  to  execute  it. 

The  issue  was  of  the  highest  importance.  Indeed,  it  was  vital  to  all 
free  governments.  Party  spirit  ran  high,  and  soon  indictments  were 
found  in  the  district  courts  then  sitting  in  various  States  against  men 
who  treated  the  enactment  as  void.  The  most  distinguished  attorneys 
were  engaged  and  the  constitutionality  of  the  law  was  fully  discussed. 
The  district  courts  decided  that  it  was  constitutional.  The  cases  were 
removed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  and  again  argued, 
and  that  high  tribunal  decided  the  law  to  be  constitutional. 

The  Federalists  now  supposed  their  opinions  confirmed  and  settled  for 
ever.  The  Republicans  denied  that  any  such  power  was  vested  in  the 
-  courts.  They  were  only  authorized  to  decide  the  cases  before  them, 
nothing  more;  to  that  decision  the  parties  were  bound  to  submit;  not  so 
with  the  people.  They  framed  the  Constitution,  and  they  alone  could 
give  final  construction  to  ft.  They  could  elect  a  President  who  would 
disregard  the  decision,  who  would  nominate  judges  that  would  overrule 
it,  and  as  Mr.  Jefferson  had  denied  the  constitutionality  of  the  law,  and 
as  it  was  believed  that  a  great  majority  of  the  people  denied  it,  it  was 
proper  that  he  should  be  the  next  president.  There  were  other  issues 
and  other  considerations  involved  iu  the  presidential  election  of  1800; 
but  this  is  believed  to  be  the  only  constitutional  question  then  agitated. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  elected  upon  this  issue,  and,  conscious  of  the  cor 
rectness  of  his  doctrine,  he  at  once  pardoned  all  persons  who  were  indict 
ed  or  convicted  under  the  sedition  law.  This  was  probably  one  of  the 


DISTRICT   OF   COLUMBIA  ORGANIZED.  31 

proudest  triumphs  of  principle  achieved  by  the  people  of  our  Union  since 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  ;  but  we  are  led  to  pause  and  inquire 
why  Mr.  Jefferson  and  the  Republicans  of  that  day  did  not  apply  the 
doctrine  thus  established  to  the  fugitive  slave  act,  so  palpably  a  violation 
of  the  Constitution  as  well  as  of  the  "  natural  law  ?"  The  only  answer 
to  the  inquiry  is,  that  the  slaveholding  influence  then  ruled  the  nation. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  present  century  Congress  accepted  [1801> 
grants  from  Maryland  and  Virginia  of  the1  territory  which  sub 
sequently  constituted  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  passed  an  act  for 
its  organization.  By  this  act,  the  laws  of  Virginia  were  declared  to  re 
main  in  force  in  the  territory  ceded  by  that  State,  and  the  laws  of  Mary 
land  were  declared  to  be,  and  remain,  in  force  in  the  territory  ceded  by 
that  State,  thus  making  the  slave  laws  of  those  States  ads  of  Congress. 
These  laws  had  been  enacted  in  a  darker  and  more  barbarous  age,  and 
were  wholly  unsuited  to  the  then  state  of  civilization  in  the  free  States. 
Yet  the  subject  of  the  slave  code  does  not  appear  to  have  been  discussed 
or  examined  at  the  time  it  was  adopted  by  Congress.  Indeed  its 
bearing  upon  slavery  does  not  appear  to  have  been  referred  to  at  the 
time.* 

The  struggles  for  liberty  by  the  colored  people  of  the  French 
West  India  islands  attracted  much  attention  both  in  Europe  and 
America.  The  emancipated  slaves  from  Hayti  often  sought  an  asylum 
in  the  United  States.  Their  presence  among  the  slaves  of  our  southern 
States  were  said  to  exert  an  "  unhappy  influence  in  favor  of  liberty." 

The  people  of  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  memorialized  Congress  on 
the  subject,  praying  that  body  to  pass  a  law  inflicting  severe  penalties 
upon  persons  landing  in  any  State  whose  laws  prohibited  their  presence. 
This  demand  for  protecting  slavery  from  the  moral  influences  of  freedom 
was  regarded  as  somewhat  extraordinary;  but  a  bill  was  introduced  de 
claring  the  ship,  tackle  and  furniture  employed  in  importing  such  eman 
cipated  slaves  to  be  forfeited,  and  requiring  officers  of  the  United  States 
to  enforce  the  law.  The  bill  was  strongly  opposed,  and  from  the  meagre 
report  of  the  debate  there  appears  to  have  been  much  northern  as  well 
as  southern  feeling  elicited.  The  advocates  of  the  measure  have  left  no 
record  of  their  arguments  in  favor  of  the  policy,  but  the  bill  passed  withy 
out  any  record  of  the  ayes  and  noes. 

The  people  of  the  slave  States  now  demanded  a  more  efijcient  fugitive 

*  By  a  statute  of  Maryland,  then  in  force,  If  a  slave  were  convicted  of  setting  fire  to  his  master's 
buildings,  the  court  were  authorized  to  order  him  hanged,  his  head  severed  from  his  body,  his  body 
divided  into  four  quarters  and  disposed  of  as  the  court  should  direct ;  and  this  statute  remained  in 
force  in  the  city  of  Washington  until  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  that  city  in  1862. 


32  SLAVEHOLDERS   DEMAND   PROTECTION. 

law.  They  complained  that  slaves  left  their  masters  and  fled  into  the 
free  States,  where,  by  their  labor,  they  were  able  to  obtain  food  and 
clothing.  They  therefore  would  remain  in  such  free  States  rather  than 
return  to  their  masters. 

Mr.  Nicholson,  of  Maryland,  introduced  a  bill  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  prohibiting  persons  under  severe  penalties  from  employing  any 
black  or  mulatto  laborer  who  could  not  show  his  title  to  liberty  by  a  cer 
tificate  from  some  court  of  record,  some  judge,  or  some  justice  of  the 
peace.  The  bill  also  made  it  the  duty  of  the  person  so  employing  any 
black  or  mulatto  to  publish  a  description  of  the  person  so  employed  hi 
two  newspapers  of  general  circulation. 

But  these  despotic  provisions  provoked  debate.  Northern  members 
declared  themselves  unwilling  to  impose  upon  every  black  or  mulatto 
in  the  free  States,  the  expense  of  obtaining  and  carrying  about  with  him 
the  evidence  of  his  right  to  freedom.  And  they  revolted  at  the  proposi 
tion  that  northern  farmers  and  mechanics  should  be  at  the  trouble  and  ex 
pense  of  publishing  in  two  newspapers  a  description  of  the  laborers  who 
served  them. 

But  the  debate  was  conducted  in  good  temper,  and  the  bill  was  de 
feated  by  a  majority  of  three  votes. 

1808 1  Upon  the  admission  of  Ohio  into  the  Union,  a  territorial  gov 
ernment  had  been  formed  in  Indiana,  and  William  Henry  HarrL 
son,  a  Virginian  by  birth  and  education,  was  appointed  Governor.  Most 
of  the  inhabitants  at  that  time  living  in  the  territory  had  emigrated  from 
Kentucky,  Virginia,'  and  other  slave  States.  The  country  was  new  and 
required  great  labor  to  reduce  the  lands  to  cultivation.  The  people  feel 
ing  a  strong  attachment  to  slavery,  very  naturally  desired  the  benefit  of 
slave  labor  to  aid  them  in  clearing  their  lands. 

To  obtain  that  privilege,  a  large  convention  was  called  at  Vincennes; 
Governor  Harrison  presided.  The  meeting  adopted  a  series  of  resolu 
tions,  asking  Congress  to  suspend  for  ten  years  the  operations  of  the  sixth 
article  of  the  ordinance  of  1781,  which  prohibited  slavery  in  the  territory 
northwest  of  the  Ohio  River. 

The  Governor  inclosed  the  proceedings  of  the  meeting  in  a  letter  to 
Congress,  urging  compliance  with  the  memorial.  The  letter  and  proceed 
ings  of  the  meeting  were  respectfully  referred  to  a  select  committee,  who 
reported  that  such  a  suspension  of  the  ordinance  would  be  inexpedient; 
and  this  effort  to  reestablish  slavery  in  that  territory  was  defeated, 

It  was  during  the  year  of  which  we  are  now  writing,  that  South  Caro 
lina  first  shocked  the  conscience  of  the  American  people  by  her  action  in 
favor  of  the  slave  trade.  For  nearly  a  century,  the  Quakers  of  England 


SOUTH   CAKOLLNA  AND   THE   SLAVE  TKADE.  33 

and  many  of  that  sect  in  the  United  States,  had  regarded  the  traffic 
in  human  beings  as  barbarous;  and  long  before  the  Revolution  the 
people  of  the  Colonies  had  combined  to  discourage  and  abolish  it,  and 
nearly  every  State  passed  laws  to  prohibit  it.  Nor  did  South  Carolina 
hesitate  to  purify  her  people  and  government  from  that  crime.  By  sta 
tute  she  prohibited  the  importation  of  slaves  under  severe  penal 
ties.  Yet,  at  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  she  was  tenacious 
of  retaining  the  trade  until  the  year  1808,  if  her  people  choose  to  pur 
sue  it.  And  now  her  legislature  repealed  the  law  prohibiting  the  im 
portation  of  slaves,  and  her  slavedealers  resumed  the  barbarous  com 
merce,  which  had  been  so  long  regarded  as  disgraceful  to  Christian 
nations. 

The  attention  of  Congress  was  called  to  it.  Members  spoke  of  it  in 
great  sorrow;  said  that  it  would  bring  disgrace  upon  the  nation  ;  refer 
red  to  the  scenes  at  tha^;  time  transpiring  in  St.  Domingo,  and  in  plain 
and  definite  language  assured  the  people  of  South  Carolina  that  they 
were  preparing  for  a  renewal  of  those  scenes  among  the  people  of  that 
State.  They  declared  slavery  to  be  a  war  upon  human  nature  and  in 
perpetual  hostility  to  Christian  civilization.  Maryland,  a  slave  State 
through  her  legislature,  called  on  Congress  to  propose  to  the  States  such 
amendments  of  the  Federal  Constitution  as  would  forever  abolish  the 
traffic  in  human  flesh.  But  no  efficient  action  was  taken  upon  the  sub 
ject. 

The  purchase  of  the  vast  territory  called  Louisiana,  and  the  es- 
tablishment  of  a  territorial  government  therein,  now  occupied  much 
of  the  time  of  Congress.  Southern  statesmen  had  looked  to  this  trans 
action  as  a  means  for  extending  the  slave  interest  and  increasing  the 
slave  power  even  before  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  In 
deed,  it  was  debated  in  the  Virginia  convention  called  to  express  the  con 
sent  of  that  State  to  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  compact. 

The  purchase  was  made  under  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration  as  a  mat 
ter  of  necessity  in  order  to  secure  the  great  commercial  advantages  of 
the  Mississippi,  the  President  admitting  at  the  time  that  there  was  no 
constitutional  authority  in  the  Federal  Government  to  acquire  territory, 
but  he  declared  that  it  were  better  to  make  the  purchase  when  the  op 
portunity  to  do  so  offered,  and  trust  to  Congress  and  the  people  the  duty 
of  so  amending  the  Constitution  as  to  render  the  purchase  legal.  Thus 
the  first  extension  of  slavery  by  the  United  States  was  admitted  by  the 
Executive  to  be  unconstitutional. 

The  treaty  of  purchase  stipulated  that  the  inhabitants  should  be 
"  admitted  to  the  Union  with  all  the  rights,  advantages,  and  immuni- 
3 


34  AFRICAN  AND   AMERICAN   SLAVE   TRADE. 

ties  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  ;v  and  this  provision  was  construed 
to  guarantee  the  right  of  holding  slaves.  But  the  people  of  the  free 
States  do  not  appear  to  have  been  conscious  of  the  evils  resulting  from 
this  extension  of  the  slave  power  until  a  few  months  subsequently  to  the 
ratification  of  the  treaty,  when  a  ship  with  a  full  cargo  of  African  slaves 
landed  at  New  Orleans, -and  sold  her  human  chattels  with  perfect  impu 
nity,  to  the  amazement  and  horror  of  all  who  held  the  doctrines  of  uni 
versal  liberty. 

The  people  of  the  free  States  now  awoke  to  the  fact  that  the  money 
of  the  nation  had  been  paid  for  the  purchase  of  a  slave  market  where  the 
hucksters  in  human  flesh  could  pursue  their  vocation. 

A  large  meeting  assembled  in  Philadelphia  to  express  the  feeling  ex 
cited  by  this  outrage  upon  our  character  as  a  nation.  It  was  attended 
by  the  most  respectable  men  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  styled  "  The 
American  Convention  for  the  abolition  of  Slavery  and  Improvement  of 
the  African  Race."  A  memorial  was  adopted  requesting  Congress  to  pass 
a  law  prohibiting  the  importation  of  slaves  into  Louisiana.  Congress 
received  the  petition  with  respect  and  passed  the  desired  law. 
1804 1  While  South  Carolina  was  engaged  in  importing  Africans  to 
that  State  for  the  purpose  of  retaining  them  in  perpetual  and  de 
grading  bondage,  the  Africans  of  Tripoli  were  engaged  in  seizing  and 
enslaving  Americans,  and  holding  them  in  servitude  less  barbarous.  The 
States  of  Barbary  had  long  practised  the  capture  and  enslavement  of 
Americans,  whom  they  usually  released  for  a  definite  ransom  of  about 
fifteen  hundred  dollars.  But  the  Africans  enslaved  by  South  Carolina 
were  never  held  subject  to  ransom.  They  were  slaves  for  life,  and  their 
descendants  after  them.  The  American  held  by  the  Mohammedans  of 
Tripoli  was  always  made  free  whenever  he  embraced  the  religion  of  the 
country;  while  the  African,  on  embracing  the  Christian  religion,  was 
regarded  as  a  more  valuable  slave  than  before.  And  whenever  the  fe 
male  slave  of  a  Mohammedan  bore  issue  to  her  master,  both  mother  and 
child  were  made  free  ;  while  in  our  slave  States  the  master  often  sold 
his  own  offspring  and  the  mother  of  his  children  to  interminable  servitude 
in  another  State.  Yet,  although  our  people  were  held  in  a  bondage  far 
less  degrading  than  that  to  which  the  Africans  were  doomed  in  our 
slave  States,  the  Government  did  not  hesitate  to  make  war  on  Tripoli. 
A  naval  force  was  sent  there,  and  our  American  citizens  were  redeemed 
from  African  bondage  at  the  cannon's  mouth.  The  civilized  nations  of 
the  world  fully  justified  the  proceeding,  and  the  semi-barbarians  of  Tri 
poli  were  usually  denounced  as  "  pirates"  in  consequence  of  their  enslav 
ing  the  Christians  of  other  countries  ;  while  South  Carolina,  professing 


ABOLITION    OF   SLAVERY   IN   DISTRICT   OF   COLUMBIA.  35 

to  be  a  Christian  State,  was  engaged  in  seizing  the  heathens  of  Africa 
and  holding  them  in  perpetual  servitude. 

The  condition  of  the  District  of  Columbia  attracted  much  at-  ,lg()5 
tention  in  Congress.  Propositions  to  retrocede  that  portion  which 
lay  in  the  State  of  Virginia  were  brought  forward  and  debated  at  great 
length.  The  real  difficulty,  however,  was  apparently  kept  out  of  sight 
so  far  as  it  could  be  conveniently,  until,  on  the  18th  of  January,  when 
Mr.  Sloan,  of  New  Jersey,  presented  a  resolution  declaring  that  from 
and  after  the  4th  July,  A.D.  1805,  all  black  and  mulatto  people  born  in 
the  District  of  Columbisa  of  slave  mothers  should  be  free.  This  move 
ment  became  memorable  as  the  first  direct  attempt  to  give  liberty  to  the 
slaves  of  our  National  Metropolis.  The  resolution  occasioned  no  debate, 
but  was  sustained  by  the  votes  of  Messrs.  Alexander,  Williams  and 
Wynn,  of  North  Carolina  ;  Archer,  of  Maryland,  and  Wilson,  of  Ken 
tucky,  all  of  whom  were  from  slave  States  ;  while  Messrs.  Hunt  and  Ten- 
ny,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Cutter,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Davenport,  Griswould 
and  Goddard,  of  Connecticut  ;  Lyon  and  Olin,  of  Vermont ;  Hiker, 
Thomas,  Van  Courtland,  Van  Renselaer,  and  Verplank,  of  New  York  ; 
Boyd  and  Elmer,  of  New  Jersey,  and  Hoge,  of  Pennsylvania,  voted 
against  the  resolution,  which  was  lost  by  seventy-seven  against  and  thirty- 
one  in  favor  of  its  adoption. 

The  people  of  the  Island  of  St.  Domingo  had  been  set  free  by  ,1806 
a  decree  of  the  French  Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  they  rejoiced 
when  the  chains  of  bondage  were  stricken  from  their  limbs.  But  when 
the  French  government  attempted  to  reenslave  them,  they  gallantly  de 
fended  their  liberties,  setting  at  defiance  the  armies  of  France,  and  giving 
to  the  world  conclusive  proof  that  they  loved  liberty  and  possessed  the 
gallantry  to  defend  it.  The  slave  power  now  sympathized  with  France, 
while  the  lovers  of  liberty  could  not  restrain  their  ardent  prayers  for  the 
success  of  the  people  of  Hayti.  An  attempt  to  introduce  a  bill  suspend 
ing  commercial  intercourse  with  that  island  had  brought  the  attention  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  to  the  subject  during  the  previous  year  ; 
but  that  body  refused  leave  for  its  introduction.  The  bill  was  again 
presented  during  the  year  1806,  and  called  forth  more  angry  debate  than 
any  other  subject  at  that  session.  Some  northern  Representatives  could 
not  consent  to  prohibit  the  people  of  Boston  from  the  rich  commerce  with 
that  island  in  order  to  keep  the  slaves  of  the  South  in  ignorance  of  the 
gallant  efforts  of  their  brethren  in  St.  Domingo  on  behalf  of  liberty;  but 
the  bill  passed  by  a  vote  of  ninety-two  to  twenty-six.* 

*  This  law  remained  in  force  until  1863. 


\ 
36  SLAVE   TRADE   PROHIBITED. 

In  the  Senate  there  was  little  opposition  to  the  bill  except  from 
Hon.  John  Quincy  Adams.  He  opposed  its  passage,  and  gave  evidence 
of  that  love  of  justice  and  liberty  which  characterized  his  subsequent 
life. 

The  advocates  of  slavery  in  Indiana  again  petitioned  Congress  to  sus 
pend  the  operation  of  the  sixth  article  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  which 
prohibited  slavery  in  our  northwestern  territory.  The  petition  was  signed 
by  the  Governor  and  Legislative  Council.  But  the  Quakers  of  that  terri 
tory  foresaw  that  a  suspension  of  the  prohibition  of  slavery,  if  granted, 
would  naturally  become  perpetual,  and  the  institution  once  established, 
would  not  be  easily  eradicated.  They  sent  to  Congress  their  remon 
strances,  numerously  signed,  protesting  in  the  name  of  humanity  against 
any  suspension  of  the  rights  of  human  nature  in  that  territory. 

The  petitions  and  remonstrances  were  referred  to  a  select  committee 
of  the  Senate  and  promptly  reported  upon.  The  committee  unanimously 
rejected  the  proposition  to  introduce  slavery  into  the  territory.  In  the 
House  of  Representatives  the  committee  reported  a  bill  suspending  the 
prohibition  of  slavery  for  ten  years  ;  but  it  was  never  called  up  for 
action. 

180T ,  It  was  well  understood  throughout  the  nation  that  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution  expected  and  intended  the  prohibition  of  the 
African  slave  trade  at  the  earliest  moment  allowed  by  that  instrument. 
The  Christian  world  expected  it,  and  a  bill  for  that  purpose  was  intro 
duced  in  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Bradley,  of  Vermont.  It  met  with  very  little 
opposition,  was  passed  and  sent  to  the  House  for  concurrence.  In  that 
body  difficulties  and  delays  attended  it.  Members  looked  upon  it  as  an 
expression  of  the  American  people  that  the  traffic  was  barbarous,  while 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  supporting  and  maintaining  it.  But 
the  bill  passed,  to  take  effect  on  the  first  day  of  January,  A.D.  1808, 
this  being  the  earliest  tune  at  which  the  inhibition  could  constitutionally 
take  effect. 

By  the  ninth  and  tenth  sections  of  this  act,  ample  provisions  were 
made  for  protecting  the  coastwise  slave  trade,  which  proved  not  less 
barbarous  in  its  character  than  the  foreign  traffic. 

Perhaps  the  arrogance  and  barbarism  of  South  Carolina  was  never 
more  strikingly  illustrated  than  in  the  efforts  of  her  people  and  statesmen 
to  obtain  a  modification  of  this  act,  so  far  as  to  permit  her  slave  ships 
which  should  fail  to  return  before  the  1st  of  January,  1808,  to  bring 
their  cargoes  of  humanity  to  that  State  with  impunity  after  the  act 
should  take  effect. 

Numerous  memorials  for  that  object  were  presented  to  the  House  of 


PETITION  DISCARDED.  37 

Representatives  by  Mr.  Marion,  who  moved  their  reference  to  a  select 
committee. 

Mr.  Masters,  of  New  York,  declared,  "  If  there  be  a  subject  on  which 
petitions  ought  not  to  be  received,  it  must  be  that  of  the  slave  trade." 
And  a  majority  of  the  House  agreed  with  him,  and  the  petitions  were 
rejected. 


38  PRIMAL  BIGHTS   DISREGARDED. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   DEVOTION    OF   CONGRESS  TO   THE   INTERESTS    OF    SLAVERY   CONTINUED 

A    SLAVEHOLDING   GOVERNMENT    ESTABLISHED    IN    ARKANSAS AN    ATTEMPT 

TO    ESTABLISH    SLAVERY   IN    MISSOURI   DEFEATED. 

18081  FOURTEEN  years  had  now  elapsed  since  the  Federal  Government 
assumed  the  power  of  legislating  in  favor  of  slavery.  During 
that  time  Congress  provided  for  the  arrest  and  return  of  fugitive  slaves, 
established  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  pro 
vided  for  the  coastwise  slave  trade,  and  had  added  the  vast  slave 
territory  of  Louisiana  to  the  Union. 

In  the  enactment  of  these  statutes,  we  do  not  find  that  any  mem 
ber  quoted  the  doctrines  laid  down  by  all  publicists,  "that  enact 
ments  against  the  natural  rights  of  ma/rikind  are  void;  that  they 
possess  no  element  of  law."  But  so  far  as  we  learn  from  the  debates, 
members  felt  themselves  authorized  to  legislate  for  the  destruction  of 
human  life  and  human  liberty,  as  well  as  to  secure  the  enjoyment  of  those 
prerogatives.  In  no  instance  do  we  find  that  members  quoted  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  which  so  beautifully  declares  that  govern 
ments  are  instituted  among  men  to  secure  life,  liberty,  and  happiness  : 
nor  do  they  appear  to  have  even  consulted  that  clause  in  the  Constitu 
tion  which  declares  that  "no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or 
property  without  due  process  of  law."  These  doctrines,  though  plain  and 
obvious  at  the  present  day,  and  not  less  so  to  the  signers  of  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence  and  to  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  were 
most  obviously  in  advance  of  the  general  intelligence  of  that  day. 
They  had  been  adopted  by  no  other  government,  and  do  not  appear  to 
have  been  generally  understood  by  the  American  people. 
1809  ^e  Pukh'c  Attention  was  now  occupied  with  our  increasing  diffi 

culties  with  England,  which  were  gradually  approximating  a  war 
with  that  formidable  power  ;  and,  in  the  excitement  attendant  upon  this 
conviction,  Congress  appeared  to  have  lost  sight  of  the  subject  of  slavery 
for  a  time. 

Many  slaves  were  leaving  Georgia.     Some  fled  to  the  "  Okefe- 

noke  Swamps."     Others  found  their  way  to  the  settlement  of 

colored  people  on  the  "  Appalachicola "  River,  and  others  settled  in 

various  parts  of  Florida.     The  planters  were  greatly  annoyed  by  this 


GEORGIA    WAR   FOR   SLAVERY.  6\) 

exodus  of  their  bondmen.  The  authorities  of  that  State  raised  an  army, 
and  placing  its  Adjutant-General  at  the  head,  sent  it  to  Florida  in  search 
of  slaves.  The  negroes  and  Indians  combined  in  defence  of  their  country  ; 
and  gathered  whatever  forces  they  could  upon  so  sudden  an  emer- 
gency,  hung  upon  the  flanks  and  rear  of  the  retreating  foe,  cutting 
off  his  men  in  detail.  The  army  suffered  for  want  of  provisions,  by  sick 
ness  and  by  constant  attacks,  during  the  whole  of  its  retreat,  and  many 
a  Georgian  who  left  that  State  with  high  expectations  of  capturing  fugi 
tive  slaves,  never  returned  to  his  native  land. 

Georgia  next  became  clamorous  in  favor  of  obtaining  Florida,  which 
had  long  been  an  asylum  for  fugitive  slaves.  She  importuned  Con 
gress  to  take  possession  of  it  by  military  force,  although  our  nation 
was  then  at  peace  with  Spain.  Congress  acted  upon  the  subject 
in  secret  session,  but  directed  the  Executive  to  send  a  force  to  take  pos 
session  of  the  territory.  General  Mathews,  of  Georgia,  was  placed  in 
command.  He  took  possession  of  Amelia  Island,  lying  upon  its  eastern 
coast,  which  soon  became  a  rendezvous  for  African  slavedealers,  for  South 
American  privateers,  and  for  pirates. 

The  Spanish  Government  complained  of  this  outrage  upon  her  ,lgl2 
territory,  and  the  American  Executive,  on  behalf  of  his  Govern 
ment,  disclaimed  the  act,  representing  it  as  unauthorized  ;  but  Mathews 
continued  to  hold  possession  of  the  island,  which  came  to  be  regarded  as 
a  general  depot  for  the  importation  of  African  slaves,  who  were  from 
thence  taken  to  various  slave  States  and  sold. 

The  attention  of  the  people  of  Georgia  appears  to  have  been 
directed  more  to  the  conquest  of  Florida,  during  the  war  with 
Great  Britain,  than  to  the  defence  of  the  nation  or  to  the  conquest  of 
Canada,  which  then  occupied  the  thoughts  of  the  people  of  the  free 
States.      While  the  men  of  Ohio  were   serving  in   the  northwestern 
army,  protecting  the  people  from  the  savages  who  hung  upon  our  border, 
those  of  Georgia  were  engaged  in  "  establishing  a  depot  for  African 
slaves  on  Amelia  Island." 

Our  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  contained  a  stipulation 
similar  to  that  of  1783 ;  by  which  His  Britannic  Majesty  agreed 
to  withdraw  his  armies  and  fleets  from  the  territories  and  waters  of  the 
United  States,  without  destroying  or  carrying  away  any  ordnance  stores, 
or  slaves,  or  other  private  property.  The  tenth  article  was  expressed  in 
the  following  language  : — "  Whereas  the  traffic  in  slaves  is  irreconcilable 
with  the  principles  of  humanity  and  justice  :  and  whereas  both  His 
Majesty  and  the  United  States  are  desirous  of  continuing  their  efforts  to 
promote  its  entire  abolition,  it  is  hereby  agreed  that  both  the  contract- 


TREATY   OF   GHENT. 

ing  parties  shall  use  their  best  endeavors  to  accomplish  so  desirable  an 
object."  The  treaty  was  negociated  and  signed  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  by  John  Quincy  Adams,  Henry  Clay,  Jonathan  Russel, 
James  A.  Bayard,  and  Albert  Gallatin  ;  and,  on  the  part  of  Great 
Britain  by  Lord  Gambier,  Henry  Goulborn,  and  William  Adams.  It 
unquestionably  spoke  the  language  then  held  by  the  great  mass  of  people 
in  both  England  and  the  United  States. 

1815]  While  the  people  of  Georgia  were  maintaining  a  depot  for 
African  slaves  at  Amelia  Island,  the  Algerines  were  again  cap 
turing  and  enslaving  American  citizens  ;  and  the  United  States  now 
entered  upon  a  second  war,  to  defend  our  people  from  slaveholding 
violence  by  the  States  of  Barbary. 

There  was  a  strong  disposition  manifested  in  Congress  against  an  open 
war  on  account  of  slavery,  as  it  appeared  to  call  in  question  the  rectitude 
of  those  States  who  held  slaves.  Indeed,  for  a  time,  the  Government 
redeemed  our  citizens  from  Algerine  slavery  at  the  rate  of  three  thousand 
dollars  for  each  slave.  But  the  representatives  of  New  England  resisted 
this  dishonorable  submission ;  and,  when  our  nation  concluded  a  peace 
with  England,  it  declared  war  with  Algiers,  and  sent  a  naval  force  for 
the  liberation  of  people  who  had  been  enslaved  on  African  soil.  The 
Dey  of  Algiers,  seeing  this  manifestation  of  earnestness  on  our  part,  con 
cluded  a  treaty  of  peace,  liberated  all  American  slaves,  and  bound  him 
self  to  demand  no  more  tribute  from  American  ships. 
181fl,  At  the  close  of  the  war  with  England,  it  was  found  that  indi 
viduals  had  lost  property  during  the  war,  by  acts  of  our  own 
troops.  Some  had  furnished  teams  for  the  transportation  of  troops,  pro 
visions,  etc.  The  teams  were  sometimes  taken  by  the  enemy,  sometimes 
destroyed  by  our  own  troops  to  prevent  their  falling  into  the  enemy's 
hands.  A  bill  was  reported  to  Congress  providing  compensation  in  those 
cases  ;  and,  while  it  was  under  debate,  a  member  from  South  Carolina 
moved  an  amendment  providing  compensation  for  slaves  lost  or  destroyed 
in  the  public  service.  He  argued  that  slaves  were  property,  that  some 
were  killed  and  others  had  died  of  disease,  and  he  thought  the  masters 
entitled  to  compensation  as  well  as  the  owners  of  other  property. 

Mr.  M'Coy,  of  Virginia,  opposed  the  amendment,  saying  that  "  our 
Government  had  never  regarded  slaves  as  property."  The  amendment 
was  lost,  only  thirty-two  members  rising  in  favor  of  it.* 

This  constituted  the  first  effort  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution 


*  Vide  the  "  National  Intelligencer  "  of  that  date.     Also,  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Claims 
in  case  of  Francis  Larch.     H.  R.,  1335. 


RANDOLPH   DENOUNCES   THE   SLAVE   TKADE.  41 

to  establish  the  heathenish  <^ogma  that  men  with  intellects,  clustering 
with  immortal  hopes,  can  be  reduced  to  the  level  of  brutes,  an<}  thereby 
transformed  into  property.  The  barbarous  idea  had  been  entertained 
amid  the  moral  darkness  of  former  ages,  and  had  descended  with  the 
institution,  but  now  found  utterance  in  an  American  Congress  for  the 
first  time. 

An  interesting  incident  occurred  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on 
the  1st  March.  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  in  the  State  of  Yirginia, 
a  man  of  unusual  ability  but  of  some  eccentricity  of  character,  arose, 
and,  stating  that  it  was  his  intention  to  move  instructions  to  the  com 
mittee  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  said,  "  I  invoke  the  House  to  put  a 
stop  to  proceedings  at  this  moment  carried  on  under  our  noses  ;  a  prac 
tice  not  surpassed  for  abomination  in  any  part  of  the  world — not  even 
upon  the  rivers  on  the  African  coast  is  there  so  great  and  so  nefarious  a 
slave-market  as  in  this  metropolis,  the  very  seat  of  government  of  this 
nation,  which  prides  itself  on  freedom.  It  is  not  necessary  (said  he) 
that  this  city  should  be  made  a  depot  for  slaves  who  are  bought  from 
cruel  masters  or  kidnapped  ;  and  of  those  kidnapped  there  are  two  kinds, 
those  stolen  from  their  masters,  and  free,  persons  stolen  from  themselves. 
It  is  not  necessary  that  we  should  have  a  depot  for  this  nefarious  traffic, 
in  comparison  with  which  the  traffic  from  Africa  to  Charleston  or 
Jamaica  is  a  mercy — a  VIRTUE.  Indeed,  there  can  be  no  comparison  be 
tween  taking  .these  savages  from  their  native  wilds,  and  tearing  the 
civilized  and  informed  negro,  habituated  to  civilized  life,  from  his  master, 
his  friends,  his  wife,  his  children,  his  parents.  I  have  (said  he)  this  day 
heard  a  horrible  fact  from  a  respectable  gentleman  :  a  poor  negro,  by 
hard  work,  and  by  saving  his  allowance,  laid  by  money  enough  to  pur 
chase  the  freedom  of  his  wife  and  child.  The  poor  fellow  died,  and  the 
next  day  the  woman  and  child  were  sold.  I  was  mortified  at  being  told  by 
a  foreigner  of  high  rank,  '  You  call  this  a  land  of  liberty,  and  every  day 
things  are  done  in  it  at  which  the  despotisms  of  Europe  would  be  horror- 
struck  and  disgusted.' " 

No  sketch  which  the  writer  could  give  would  convey  to  the  reader 
a  more  accurate  idea  of  the  slave  trade  at  that  time  carried  on,  not  only 
in  Washington  City,  but  in  all  the  cities  of  the  northern  slave  States. 
Indeed,  it  is  from  the  speeches  made  in  Congress,  and  the  statements 
made  in  memorials  sent  to  that  body  by  Quakers  and  others,  that  we 
are  enabled  to  state  facts  which  current  historians  have  failed  to  notice, 
and  which  the  editors  of  newspapers  of  that  day  dared  not  speak. 

The  slaveholders  then  sitting  in  the  hall  listened  to  the  words  of  the 
eccentric  Virginian  in  silence  :  no  member  denied  that  free  negroes 


42  FREE   NEGKOES   ENSLAVED. 

were  kidnapped  as  he  had  declared  ;  nor  did  any  one  attempt  to  modify 
his  statements  except  Mr.  Wright,  of  Maryland,  who  said  there  was 
worse  slavery  in  Europe. 

The  motion  was  carried  without  opposition,  the  committee  was 
appointed  :  Mr.  Randolph  was  chairman,  and  reported  the  facts  very 
much  as  stated  ;  but  he  was  able  to  go  no  farther. 

In  accordance  with  the  statement  of  Mr.  Randolph,  the  Quakers  of 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  sent  memorials  to  Congress, 
setting  forth  that  free  negroes  in  those  States  were  seized  frequently  by 
men  pretending  to  arrest  them  under  the  fugitive  slave  act,  and  when 
once  in  custody  of  the  slave-catchers,  were  carried  South,  and  sold  to 
interminable  bondage  :  that  others,  admitted  to  be  free,  were  stealthily 
seized,  bound,  carried  away,  and  sold  to  slavery ;  and  the  memorialists 
earnestly  prayed  Congress  to  pass  such  laws  as  would  efficiently  protect 
those  unoffending  and  friendless  people. 

But  the  difficulty  lay  in  the  popular  mind.  Men  in  public  and  in 
private  life,  in  the  South  and  in  the  North,  regarded  these  people  as 
designed  for  servitude  by  the  Creator,  and  that  they,  in  fact,  "possessed 
no  rights  that  white  men  were  bound  to  respect."* 

The  clergy  frequently  taught  these  doctrines  from  the  pulpit,  and  few 
men  had  the  moral  courage  to  avow  doctrines  directly  hostile  to  the 
interests  of  the  South  and  the  theology  of  the  North.  The  Quakers  had 
ever  dissented  from  the  general  theology,  and  were  rather  a  despised  peo 
ple  in  the  estimation  of  slaveholders,  and  of  those  northern  men  who 
seemed  to  regard  southern  statesmen  as  authorized  to  give  tone  to  the 
morals  as  well  as  the  politics  of  the  northern  States. 

Under  these  circumstances,  Congress  appears  to  have  paid  little  atten 
tion  to  the  petitions  of  the  Quakers  and  philanthropists  in  regard  to  the 
kidnapping  of  free  negroes. 

1817  -j  At  the  opening  of  the  second  session  of  the  fourteenth  Congress, 
the  President  in  his  annual  message  called  attention  to  certain  de 
fects  in  the  law  prohibiting  the  foreign  slave  trade.  The  Quakers  of  the 
middle  States  also  petitioned  Congress  for  such  amendments  of  existing 
laws  as  would  prevent  the  foreign  slave  trade  and  protect  the  free  negroes 
then  residing  in  those  States.  The  memorials  and  the  President's  mes 
sage  were  respectfully  referred  to  appropriate  committees;  but  no  reports 
were  made  thereon.  ]  -. 

1818]          The  President  in  his  first  annual  message  to  the  fifteenth  Con 
gress,  again  urged  upon  the  consideration  of  that  body  those  de- 

*  This  language  was  used  by  the  Supreme  Court  forty  years  subsequently,  in  case  of  Dred  Scott. 


SLAVE   TRADE    CONTINUED.  43 

fects  in  the  law  prohibiting  the  slave  trade  which  rendered  it  entirely 
inefficient;  and  he  also  referred  to  the  fact  that  Amelia  Island,  on  the 
coast  of  Florida,  continued  to  be  a  depot  where  African  slaves  were 
landed,  and  from  that  island  were  brought  to  the  United  States  and  sold 
to  planters  in  violation  of  existing  laws. 

Mr.  Burrell,  a  senator  from  Rhode  Island,  moved  to  instruct  the  com 
mittee  on  commerce  to  report  such  amendments  to  the  law  prohibiting 
the  foreign  slave  trade  as  would  render  it  efficient,  and  to  inquire  into 
the  propriety  of  uniting  with  other  nations  in  proper  efforts  to  abolish 
the  "  traffic  in  slaves."* 

Mr.  Troup,  of  Georgia,  not  only  objected  to  entering  into  arrange 
ments  with  any  foreign  nation  for  suppressing  the  slave  trade,  but  he*  was 
entirely  opposed  to  any  inquiry  in  relation  to  such  union  of  effort,  and 
was  sustained  by  other  parties  from  the  South ;  yet,  on  this  occasion 
the  North  was  not  silent. 

Mr.  Morril,  of  New  Hampshire,  said  that  we  called  ourselves  a  Chris 
tian  nation ;  but  our  character  was  deeply  affected  by  the  inefficiency  of 
our  laws  against  the  slave  trade.  He  regarded  the  objections  against 
the  motion  as  unimportant. 

Hon.  Rufus  King,  of  New  York,  a  senator  of  great  experience  and  in 
fluence,  declared  that  in  negotiating  and  approving  the  treaty  of  Ghent, 
the  Executive  and  Senate  had  committed  themselves  to  the  abolition  of 
the  "traffic  in  slaves."  This  pledge  had  been  given  in  concert  with  Great 
Britain,  and  he  could  see  no  objection  to  the  United  States  acting  in  con 
cert  with.  England  for  the  destruction  of  this  curse  from  the  earth. 

The  motion  of  Mr.  Burrell  was  sustained.  The  committee  reported  a 
bill  amending  the  act  prohibiting  the  slave  trade,  and  it  passed  the  Sen 
ate  and  was  sent  to  the  House  for  concurrence. 

In  that  body  a  bill  had  been  reported,  providing  for  breaking  up 
the  slave  trade  on  Amelia  Island.  These  two  bills  were  united  in  one 
by  the  House;  the  Senate  agreed  to  this  amendment,  and  the  bill  became 
a  law. 

The  historian  of  the  present  age  finds  himself  astonished  on  rigig 
looking  over  the  petitions  of  Quakers  and  philanthropists  sent  to 
(Congress  at  the  period  of  which  we  are  writing.  They  appear  to  de 
monstrate  the  perfect  unconsciousness  of  public  men,  that  mankind  are 
morally  responsible  for  oppressions  and  outrages  committed  upon  the 
colored  race.  Indeed,  southern  statesmen  showed  no  evidence  that  they 

*  Fifty-five  years  subsequently  to  this  motion,  the  United  States  entered  into  treaty  arrangements 
with  Great  Britain  for  suppress!  u0'  the  slave  trade. 


44  SOUTHEEN   DOCTRINES   AVOWED. 

believed  in  the  moral  responsibility  attached  to  the  treatment  of  colored 
people. 

From  the  enactment  of  the  fugitive  slave  act*  to  the  period  of  which 
we  are  writing,  that  act  was  prostituted  to  the  purposes  of  arresting  and 
carrying  free  colored  persons  into  bondage.  These  outrages  upon  our  com 
mon  humanity  were  complained  of  year  after  year  by  the  Quakers  in 
their  annual  petitions  sent  to  Congress,  while  little  attention  was  paid  to 
them  by  our  public  servants. 

These  memorials  were  presented  to  the  fifteenth  Congress  at  its  first 
session  in  greater  numbers  than  usual.  In  the  Senate  they  were  respect 
fully  referred,  and  by  the  committees  to  whom  they  were  confided  were 
entoombed  in  perpetual  silence:  while  in  the  House  of  Representatives  a 
bill  to  amend  the  fugitive  act  and  render  it  more  efficient,  was  presented 
and  received  the  most  respectful  consideration;  yet  we  can  find  no  peti 
tions  on  file  or  referred  to  in  the  journal  of  that  body  asking  such  amend 
ments.  The  bill,  however,  was  subjected  to  debate.  While  it  was  under 
consideration,  amendments  were  offered  securing  free  negroes  from  arrest 
under  it ;  but  these  were  rejected.  Northern  members  appeared  to  be 
stimulated  by  the  rejection  of  these  amendments  to  declare  that  free  per 
sons  of  color  were  and  had  long  been  arrested  under  color  of  this  fugitive 
act,  and  when  once  in  custody  of  the  professional  slave-catcher,  were  car 
ried  South  and  sold  to  interminable  bondage ;  and  some  members  went  so 
far  as  to  say  that  Congress  ought  not  to  legislate  in  favor  of  slavery,  as 
the  institution  itself  was  a  violation  of  natural  justice,  essentially  barbar 
ous  in  its  character.^ 

To  these  remarks  southern  men  replied,  asserting  the  very  extraordi 
nary  doctrine  that,  "  it  was  immaterial  whether  slavery  were  right  or 
wrong  ;  that  Congress  had  no  authority  to  inquire  into  its  character,  as 
the  Constitution  had  recognized  it  and  Congress  was  bound  to  support  it, 

WHATEVER  CRIMES  MIGHT  BE  INCIDENT  TO  ITS  CONTINUANCE." 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  this  constituted  the  first  instance  in  which  it 
was  openly  asserted  that  Congress  was  bound  to  sustain  the  institution  of 
slavery,  either  in  the  States  or  anywhere  else. 

Nor  was  it  less  extraordinary  that  members  of  Congress  or  other 
intelligent  men  should  assert  the  duty  or  the  power  of  Congress  or  other 
legislative  bodies  to  enact  laws  authorizing  or  professing  to  authorize 

*  The  writer  has  ever  adhered  to  the  theory  of  European  and  American  publicists  and  philoso 
phers,  which  denies  the  character  of  law  to  those  human  enactments  which  invade  the  natural 
rights  of  mankind  to  life  and  liberty  ;  they  possess  no  element  of  law. 

t  Twenty  years  subsequently  the  writer  enunciated  the  same  doctrine  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  for  which  he  was  declared  to  be  a  most  radical  reformer,  putting  forth  doctrines  that  no 
othw  man  had  ever  uttered. 


SOUTHERN   COMPLAINTS.  45 

crimes  condemned  by  the  laws  of  the  Creator,  and  hated  by  mankind. 
This  infidelity,  so  revolting  to  Christian  civilization,  was  not  met  and  ex 
posed  by  northern  men.  It  was  listened  to  with  apparent  astonishment 
and  was  actually  sustained  by  northern  votes.* 

The  bill,  after  a  warm  debate,  passed  the  House  by  a  large  majority  ; 
the  following  members  from  the  free  States  voting  for  it,  to  wit  : 
Messrs.  Mason,  Ruggles  and  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Conger,  Drake, 
Elliot,  Hubbard,  Palmer,  Spencer,  Storrs  and  Taylor,  of  New  York  ; 
Smith,  Southard  and  Bloomfield,  of  New  Jersey  ;  Edwards,  Marchand, 
Moore,  Patterson  and  Porter,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Harrison,  of  Ohio. 
New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Yermont  and  Indiana  fur 
nished  no  vote  in  favor  of  the  bill,  which  was  sent  to  the  Senate  for  con 
currence.  In  that  body  the  debate  was  more  protracted,  and  conducted 
with  more  spirit.  Mr.  Morril,  of  New  Hampshire,  declared  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery  to  be  "  barbarov,s."  This  brought  out  Mr.  Smith, 
of  South  Carolina,  who  attempted  its  elaborate  vindication  ;  declaring 
it  based  upon  the  Divine  will.  Members  of  the  House  from  slave  States 
appeared  to  have  admitted  the  institution  to  be  wrong,  and  even  crim 
inal,  but  Senator  Smith  declared  it  to  be  just  and  humane.  He  also 
denounced  Mr.  Pitt,  who  had  urged  in  the  British  Parliament  that 
governments  were  bound  to  act  justly  toward  their  individual  sub 
jects.  He  next  assailed  Messrs.  Adams,  Clay,  Bayard,  Gallatin,  and 
Russel,  who  negotiated  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  for  declaring  the  "  traffic 
in  slaves  to  be  contrary  to  the  principles  of  humanity  and  justice." 

He  then  turned  his  attention  to  the  people  of  the  free  States,  charged 
them  with  intentions  to  abolish  the  institution  in  the  southern  States  ; 
said  that  was  the  object  of  those  who  wished  to  unite  with  Great  Britain 
in  efforts  to  abolish  the  African  slave  trade.  He  complained  of  English 
and  American  writers  who  spoke  against  the  slave  trade  and  slavery, 
and  of  those  who  termed  slaveholders  "kidnappers,"  " men-stealers,"  and 
"  soul-drivers."  He  stated  the  object  of  certain  pamphlets  and  publica 
tions  was  to  deprive  the  master  of  his  property.  He  then  declared  that 
the  Constitution  had  given  the  master  the  right  to  seize  his  slave  and 
carry  him  back  to  the  State  from  whence  he  had  escaped. 

After  this  debate  the  bill  was  amended,  made  more  stringent,  giving 
the  slave-catcher  more  power  to  seize  and  enslave  free  persons  than 
when  it  came  to  the  Senate  ;  being  thus  amended,  it  was  returned 
to  the  House  in  order  that  the  amendments  might  be  concurred  in. 

*  The  northern  mind  was  eventually  so  far  corrupted  by  the  doctrines  of  slavery,  that  states 
men  appeared  to  forget  that  human  governments  were  limited  to  the  support  of,  and  possessed 
no  legitimate  powers  to  destroy  human  rights. 


4:6  FIRST   SEMINOLE   WAR. 

On  its  final  passage  in  the  Senate,  Messrs.  Otis,  of  Massachusetts, 
Sandford,  of  New  York,  and  Taylor,  of  Indiana,  voted  for  it.  But  the 
House  was  not  prepared  to  sustain  the  doctrine  nor  the  amendments  of 
the  Senate.  The  members  refused  to  concur,  and  the  bill  was  lost. 
18181  This  year  was  rendered  somewhat  historic  in  "the  regime  of 
slavery,"  by  the  first  Seminole  war.  The  people  of  the  free 
States  generally  believed  it  had  arisen  from  depredations  committed  by 
the  Seminole  Indians.  But  it  is  believed  that  no  historian  or  member 
of  Congress  gave  the  people  accurate  knowledge  respecting  the  causes 
of  a  war  which  excited  much  debate  and  controversy  touchiDg  some  of 
its  incidents. 

As  the  reader  has  already  been  informed,  early  as  1705,  slaves  left 
their  masters  in  South  Carolina,  and  fled  through  the  Indian  Territory 
to  Florida,  and  settled  on  the  Appalachicola  River  long  before  Georgia 
was  a  colony.  Their  numbers  were  undoubtedly  increased  by  fugitives 
from  Georgia  and  Louisiana  ;  and,  as  already  stated,  Georgia  made  an 
attempt  for  their  capture  in  1811  and  1812.* 

During  the  then  recent  war  with  Great  Britain,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Nichols,  of  the  British  army,  was  sent  to  that  part  of  Florida  to  act  as 
British  agent  for  the  Seminole  Indians.  He  had  a  small  force  with  him, 
and  erected  a  fort  upon  the  banks  of  the  river,  on  which  he  mounted 
eight  cannon,  and  placed  large  military  stores  in  its  magazine.  He 
also  collected  provisions  from  the  surrounding  settlements  of  colored 
people,  f 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  Colonel  Nichols,  with  his  small  force,  aban 
doned  the  fort,  with  its  stores  and  military  supplies,  and  returned  to 
England.  The  negroes  took  possession,  considering  it  a  safe  refuge 
from  the  people  of  Georgia,  should  they  send  another  expedition  for 
their  capture. 

General  Gaines  was  in  the  immediate  command  of  our  army  on  the 
southern  line  of  Georgia,  and  General  Jackson,  residing  in  Tennessee, 
was  in  command  of  the  whole  southern  military  district. 

In  1816,  General  Jackson  ordered  General  Gaines  to  send  a  force 
to  destroy  the  fort,  capture  the  negroes  and  return  them  to  slavery. 
Colonel  Clynch,  with  his  regiment  of  regulars  and  five  hundred  Indians, 
was  detailed  for. that  duty.  They  were  also  met  by  two  gunboats  from 
Mobile  Bay,  sent  to  cooperate  with  the  land  forces.  As  our  army 

*  The  author  published  a  volume,  in  1857,  entitled  "  The  Exiles  of  Florida,"  which  gives  tho  entire 
history  of  these  people  up  to  that  date. 

t  Monett,  in  his  History  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  says  :  "  The  negro  settlements  extended 
twenty-ave  miles  above  and  an  equal  distance  below  the  fort." 


47 

approached,  the  people  fled  from  their  plantations  to  the  interior.  Some 
three  hundred,  however,  took  refuge  in  the  fort,  with  twelve  or  fifteen 
Indians,  The  gunboats  opened  upon  the  fort  with  heated  shot,  which 
reached  the  magazine,  and  in  the  explosion,  two  hundred  and  seventy 
human  beings  instantaneously  fell  a  sacrifice  to  that  spirit  of  despotism 
which  controlled  the  Government  of  the  .United  States.*  The  scenes 
of  mangled  bodies,  the  groans  of  the  dying,  the  horror-stricken  sur 
vivors,  should  have  satisfied  those  who  had  been  employed  in  perpetrating 
the  murder  of  these  unoffending  people  ;  and  no  proof  short  of  official 
documents  would  have  constrained  the  writer  to  record  the  revolting 
fact,  that  two  of  the  survivors  were  delivered  over  to  the  Indians  to 
satisfy  their  thirst  for  blood,  and  were  massacred  with  savage  cruelty 
within  the.  walls  of  the  fort,  and  in  the  presence  of  our  troops. 

This  was  the  commencement  of  the  first  Seminole  war.  The  negroes 
determined  on  that  revenge  which  constitutes  the  religion  of  savages. 
They  at  once  commenced  providing  arms  and  ammunition  and  saving 
provisions,  which  were  transferred  to  the  interior.  This  precaution  and 
preparation  gave  them  influence  with  their  Indian  neighbors,  whom  they 
held  in  check  until  all  were  in  a  condition  to  engage  in  war.  More  than 
a  year  was  spent  in  preparing  for  hostilities. 

In  November,  1817,  Lieutenant  Scott,  with  forty  men,  while  escorting 
two  boats  up  Flint  River,  was  attacked  by  some  sixty  negroes  and 
Indians,  and,  with  his  party,  was  massacred.  This  massacre  aroused  the 
nation.  It  was  pronounced  savage  and  barbarous,  as  it  really  was  ;  yet 
it  was  perpetrated  in  revenge  for  the  massacre  of  more  than  seven  times 
that  number  of  their  people  by  our  troops,  without  cause. 

General  Jackson  was  at  once  ordered  to  the  field.  Our  army  was 
immediately  marched  into  Florida,  and  directed  their  course  towards  the 
Suwanee  towns.  Here  was  a  large  negro  population.  The  towns  were 
also  difficult  of  access.  One  of  these  villages  was  the  residence  of  the 
chief  of  the  negroes,  and  their  whole  force  was  collected  for  defence. 
The  Indians  also  gathered  all  their  warriors  to  act  in  concert  with  the 
negroes.  A  bloody  battle  was  fought.  The  negroes  maintained  their 
ground  manfully  until  General  Jackson  brought  his  reserve  into  action. 
Indeed,  they  did  not  even  fall  back  until  the  Indians  fled,  and  our  troops 
were  rapidly  gathering  around  their  flanks.  They  then  fell  back,  and 
wore  pursued  by  a  portion  of  our  troops  ;  but  made  another  stand,  and 
ag-.un  fought  more  desperately  than  at  first.  Bat  reinforcements  coming 

*  Monett  says  that  six  thousand  barrels  of  powder  and  three  thousand  stands  of  arms  were 
des .. .- -j.yed  by  this  explosion,  and  that  another  magazine,  containing  one  hundred  and  sixty  barrete 
of  powxier,  was  left  uninjured. 


4:8  GALLANTRY   OF   NEGROES. 

up,  they  again  gave  way,  leaving  eighty  of  their  number  dead  on  the 
field.* 

General  Jackson,  in  his  official  report,  gave  credit  to  the  enemy, 
admitting  their  courage  and  gallantry.  But  no  benefits  resulted  from 
this  loss  of  life.  Our  troops  were  in  the  interior,  their  provisions  were 
nearly  exhausted,  and  they  fully  expected  to  find  supplies  at  these  towns; 
Jbut  were  disappointed.  A  small  quantity  of  corn  only  fell  into  their 
hands.  The  provisions,  the  negro  women  and  children,  had  been  removed 
far  into  the  interior,  and  the  commanding  general  was  compelled  to  return 
to  his  depots  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  his  army. 

When  General  Jackson  issued  his  order  for  the  destruction  of  the 
"  Negro  fort,"  he  directed  the  troops  to  capture  the  fugitive  slaves  and 
return  them  to  their  masters.  Some  fifteen  or  twenty,  most  of  whom 
were  wounded,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Colonel  Clynch,  and  were  carried 
back  to  Georgia  and  sold  ;  but  these  were  the  only  colored  men  captured 
during  the  war,  which  had  been  undertaken  solely  for  the  return  of  fugi 
tive  slaves,  and  for  breaking  up  their  haunts  in  Florida. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  write  a  history  of  this  first  war,  undertaken 
by  our  Government  for  the  benefit  of  slavery.  It  occasioned  much 
debate  in  Congress.  Southern  members  became  excited  ;  declared  the 
war  to  have  been  commenced  by  the  Indians,  and  asserting  that  Florida 
had  become  an  asylum  for  fugitive  slaves  ;  insisted  that  it  must  be 
broken  up  either  by  conquest  or  purchase  of  the  territory.  Hon.  Charles 
Fenton  Mercer,  of  Virginia,  an  experienced  member  of  Congress,  of  great 
integrity  of  purpose,  moved  a  resolution,  calling  on  the  President  for 
such  information  as  he  possessed,  "  touching  the  destruction  of  the  Negro 
fort  on  the  Appalachicola  River." 

In  response  to  this  resolution,  the  Secretary  of  War  transmitted  a 
history  of  that  transaction,  embracing  more  than  a  hundred  documentary 
pages,  from  which  we  have  selected  the  facts  now  placed  before  the 
reader.  The  volume  itself  reposes  in  the  alcoves  of  our  national  library, 
containing  an  account  of  one  of  the  most  barbarous  incidents  in  "  the 
regime  of  slavery  ;"  and  constituting  an  episode  in  the  great  drama  of 
moral  and  political  events  which  usually  make  up  the  history  of  nations. 

The  Government  had  now  been  twice  engaged  in  war  with  the  Bar- 
bary  States  to  put  down  slavery,  and  to  release  our  citizens  from  bond 
age  ;  and  once  with  the  Seminoles  for  the  capture  of  slaves  and  encour 
agement  of  the  institution.  Thus  were  the  people  of  the  free  States 

*  General  Jackson,  in  his  official  report,  says  nothing  of  this  second  battle.  Indeed,  it  is  evident 
that  he  regarded  the  whole  as  constituting  one  battle  :  while  Williams,  in  his  "  History  of  Florida," 
and  Monett,  in  his  "  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,"  give  full  details  of  two  apparently  distinct  battles. 


DEMAND   FOB   DEPOETED 


SLA^fcS,  49 


made  to  shed  their  blood  and  spend  their  wealth,  both  for  and  against 
oppression,  as  the  slave  power  dictated. 

Members  of  Congress,  feeling  that  the  real  cause  of  this  war  had  not 
been  published,  introduced  resolutions  making  inquiry  on  that  subject. 
They  were  sent  to  appropriate  committees,  who  reported  that  the  war 
had  arisen  from  Indian  barbarities  committed  on  the  frontiers  of  Georgia, 
but  made  no  allusion  to  the  massacre  at  "  Blount's  Fort."  In  these  re 
ports,  the  fact  that  fugitive  slaves  were  engaged  in  the  war  appears  inci 
dentally  ;  but  when  the  subject  came  under  debate,  no  speaker  appears  to 
have  been  willing  to  declare  that  the  blood  and  treasure  of  the  nation 
had  been  expended  for  the  capture  and  enslavement  of  negroes.* 

Certain  persons  from  New  Orleans  and  vicinity  now  sent  their 
memorials  to  Congress,  setting  forth  that,  when  the  British  army 
Retired  from  that  city,  in  1815,  they  carried  away  a  large  number  of 
slaves,  and  prayed  indemnity  from  the  public  treasury  for  their  loss.  The 
petitions  being  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Claims,  were  transmitted  to 
the  Secretary  of  State,  who  returned  them  with  a  full  report,  setting  forth 
that  demands  had  been  made  on  Great  Britain  for  compensation  under 
the  treaty  of  Ghent  ;  that  the  British  ministry  had  given  a  different 
construction  to  the  treaty  ;  that  the  two  Governments  could  not  agree  ; 
and  that  the  United  States  had  proposed  a  reference  of  the  question  to 
eome  friendly  power.  The  Committee  reported  these  facts  to  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  although  members  of  that  body  must  have  been 
fully  apprised  of  the  efforts  that  were  being  put  forth  by  the  Executive 
to  commit  our  Government  still  further  to  the  protection  of  slavery,  yet 
no  one  suggested  a  doubt  as  to  the  propriety,  or  denied  the  constitution 
ality  of  that  policy. 

It  is,  at  this  day,  difficult  to  account  for  this  silence  on  the  part  of 
northern  representatives.  The  city  of  Buffalo  had  been  burned  by  the 
enemy  ;  amid  the  inclemency  of  winter,  its  people  were  driven  from  their 
dwellings,  which,  with  their  furniture  and  property,  were  consumed,  and 
they  were  left  homeless  and  penniless,  dependent  upon  the  charity  of  the 
surrounding  country.  The  Executive  made  no  effort  for  their  relief; 
and,  when  they  called  on  Congress,  that  body,  in  strict  accordance  with 
the  usages  of  nations,  refused  all  indemnity,  holding  that  their's  were  the 
misfortunes  of  war,  which  no  nation  could  avert  or  compensate.  Yet 
the  representatives  from  New  York,  and  even  from  the  city  which  had 
thus  been  laid  in  ashes,  now  silently  lent  their  approbation  to  the  policy 

*  The  author  was  at  that  time  a  young  man,  and  a  reader  of  political  news,  but  ho  bad  no 
conception  of  the  causes  of  the  first  Seminole  war  until  he  became  a  member  of  Congress  twenty 
years  trubuequently. 

4 


50  SLAVE   LtfTEEEST   CONTROLS   THE   GOVERNMENT. 

of  involving  the  national  honor,  and  influence  to  obtain  indemnity  for  the 
loss  of  slaves  from  a  southern  city  whose  people  and  habitations  had 
been  carefully  and  gallantly  defended  by  the  freemen  of  other  States. 

The  treaty  of  Ghent  contains  nearly  the  same  language  as  that  of 
1783,  and -Great  Britain  was  under  no  more  obligation  to  compensate 
for  the  slaves  who  fled  from  New  Orleans  than  she  was  to  pay  for 
those  who  fled  to  her  army  in  1783.  But  Washington,  and  Jay,  and 
Hamilton  had  departed  to  their  rest,  and  the  slave  power  now  ruled  the 
nation.  The  Executive  pressed  these  claims  for  slaves  upon  the  conside 
ration  of  the  British  Government,  obtained  a  reference  of  the  subject  to 
the  Emperor  of  Russia,  who,  of  course,  decided  in  favor  of  that  despotism 
for  which  the  Russian  Czar  must  have  felt  much  sympathy.  Much  Con 
gressional  legislation  was  had  on  the  subject,  conventions  and  compacts 
were  negotiated,  and,  after  many  years  of  effort,  some  twelve  hundred 
thousand  dollars  were  obtained  from  England,  and  most  of  it  distributed 
among  the  claimants  for  the  loss  of  fugitive  bondmen. 
1819 ,  At  the  period  to  which  we  are  now  referring,  the  Government 
appears  to  have  been  controlled  entirely  by  the  supposed  interests 
of  slavery.  Southern  statesmen  now  boldly  demanded  the  purchase  of 
Florida.  They  were  loud  in  their  complaints  against  the  Spanish 
Government,  charging  it  with  a  want  of  energy  and  good  faith  in  per 
mitting  Florida  "  to  become  the  rendezvous  for  fugitive  slaves,"  of  "  free 
booters,"  of  "  slavedealers  and  pirates."  The  subject  was  referred  to  a 
committee,  who  reported  that  it  was  highly  desirable  to  obtain  possession 
of  the  territory,  as  it  had  become  an  "asylum  for  fugitive  negroes,"  "a 
population  whose  existence  was  incompatible  with  southern  prosperity."  It 
is  due  to  the  slaveholders  of  our  southern  States  that  the  historian  should 
say  they  were  bold  and  frank  in  the  avowal  of  their  objects  for  obtaining 
Florida  ;  and  the  reason  that  the  people  of  the  free  States  were  ignorant 
of  this  object  was  the  silence  of  northern  statesmen  and  the  northern 
press  in  regard  to  it.  Nor  do  we  find  that  any  objection  was  made  to 
the  proposed  purchase  by  members  of  Congress  fr.om  the  free  States. 
The  purchase  was  consummated,  and  Florida  became  a  part  of  the  terri 
tory  of1  the  United  States. 

The  entire  devotion  of  our  Government  to  the  interests  of  slavery  waa 
further  manifested  in  its  treatment  of  the  Spanish  South  American 
Provinces.  They  were  at  that  time  earnestly  contending  for  freedom 
and  independence  as  we  had  been  in  our  Revolution.  Adopting  the  doc 
trines  which  we  enunciated,  they  gave  freedom  to  their  slaves,  declaring 
that  the  natural  rights  of  mankind,  bestowed  upon  each  member  of  the 
human  family  by  the  Creator,  lay  above  and  behind  the  power  of  human 


SOUTH   AMERICAN   GOVERNMENTS.  51 

governments,  which,  in  the  nature  of  things,  could  hold  no  legitimate 
authority  to  interfere  with  the  life  or  liberty  of  imiocent  persons. 

The  sympathy  of  the  people  of  the  free  States  was  aroused  in  favor  of 
our  South  American  brethren,  who  were  thus  fighting  the  battles  of  the 
human  race,  while  the  feeling  of  southern  politicians  was  equally  strong 
in  favor  of  the  Spanish  crown,  who  was  endeavoring  to  hold  not  only 
the  slaves  but  the  citizens  of  those  provinces  in  subjection.  It  became 
evident  that  the  Executive  al^o  sympathized  with  the  Spanish  authorities 
rather  than  with  the  people  of  the  provinces  ;  for  some  military  adven 
turers  from  England,  having  left  their  native  land,  and  bringing  with 
them  military  stores,  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  those  provinces  in  obtain 
ing  their  liberty,  landed  at  Philadelphia  with  the  expectation  of  meeting 
a  hearty  sympathy  from  the  people  of  the  United  States.  They  were 
doomed  to  sad  disappointment.  They  were  arrested  by  order  of  our 
Government  and  cast  into  prison,  under  pretence  that  they  were  violating 
the  neutrality  laws  of  the  United  States. 

Hon.  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  was  at  this  time  Speaker  of  [1819 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  exerted  great  influence  in 
Congress.  He  presented  to  that  body  a  resolution  upon  the  subject  of 
the  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  these  men,  and,  in  support  of  his  proposi 
tion,  made  one  of  the  ablest  speeches  of  his  life.  His  whole  soul  ap 
peared  to  be  moved  by  a  devotion  to  liberty — to  the  inalienable  rights 
of  mankind.  His  resolution  was  adopted,  and  the  patriotic  Englishmen 
were  released. 

The  President,  in  his  annual  message,  called  attention  of  Congress  to 
the  inefficiency  of  the  then  existing  law  against  the  African  slave  trade. 
This  portion  of  the  message  was  referred  to  an  appropriate  committee, 
who  reported  a  bill  for  the  more  perfect  inhibition  of  that  traffic. 
Southern  statesmen  made  no  opposition  to  its  passage,  except"  by  quietly 
voting  against  it,  without  even  demanding  the  yeas  and  nays  upon  its 
passage,  evidently  unwilling  to  make  an  issue  upon  a  subject  so  odious. 

Perhaps  no  incidental  question  has  created  so  much  interest  or  excited 
so  much  debate  in  Congress  as  that  of  extending  slavery.  The  Louisiana 
purchase  included  the  country  drained  by  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  and 
its  tributaries,  except  so  much  as  had  been  previously  embraced  within 
the  United  States.  The  State  of  Louisiana  had  been  taken  from  the 
southern  part  of  the  region  thus  acquired,  while  the  remainder  was  em 
braced  in  the  territory  of  Missouri. 

It  was  now  proposed  to  divide  this  territory  upon  the  line  of 
36  deg.  30  min.  north  latitude,  and  organize  a  territorial  govern 
ment  in  that  portion  which  lay  between  the  State  of  Louisiana  and 


52  8LAVEBY  IN   ABKANSA6. 

the  line  just  mentioned,  west  of  the  Mississippi  and  east  of  84  deg. 
30  min.  west  longitude,  under  the  name  of  the  Arkansas  territory  ;  and 
a  bill  for  this  purpose  was  presented  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Mr.  Taylor,  of  New  York,  proposed  an  amendment,  declaring  that  all 
slaves  born  within  said  territory,  after  it  should  be  admitted  as  a  State, 
should  become  free  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  years. 

There  was  but  little  debate  on  this  proposition,  and  it  was  sustained 
by  a  vote  of  seventy-five  in  the  affirmative,  to  seventy  in  the  negative. 
Messrs.  Holmes  and  Shaw,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Conger  and  Storrs,  of 
New  York  ;  Bloomfield  and  Kinney,  of  New  Jersey;  Beecher  and  Harri 
son,  of  Ohio  ;  Edwards  and  M'Kean,  of  Illinois,  voted  with  the  advocates 
of  slavery  extension. 

These  ten  northern  members  voted  with  those  of  the  slave  States, 
while  Messrs.  Williams,  of  North  Carolina,  and  Hall,  of  Maryland, 
voted  with  the  advocates  of  liberty. 

It  will  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  and  Indiana,  were  true  to  freedom — 
no  vote  from  those  States  was  given  for  the  extension  of  slavery. 

But  this  vote  appeared  to  strike  southern  members  with  surprise. 
They  had  evidently  believed  that  no  such  proposition  could  be  sustained. 
Mr.  Williams,  of  North  Carolina,  moved  a  reconsideration  of  the  vote, 
and  now  changed  his  position  and  voted  with  the  slaveholders,  together 
with  Messrs.  Newton  and  Colston,  of  Virginia  ;  Ringold,  of  Maryland, 
and  Walker,  of  Kentucky,  who  did  not  vote  on  the  amendment.  Mr. 
Johnson,  of  Virginia,  having  voted  against  the  amendment,  voted  against 
the  reconsideration. 

Messrs.  Hale  and  Upham,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Allen  and  Silsbee,  of 
Massachusetts,  and  Mason,  of  Rhode  Island,  did  not  vote  on  the  proposed 
amendment,  but  now  voted  against  the  reconsideration.  In  this  manner 
all  the  members  who  could  with  propriety  attend  the  session  are  sup 
posed  to  have  voted  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  consciences  and 
judgments,  showing  seventy-seven  members  in  favor  of  extending  slavery 
into  Arkansas  and  seventy-nine  opposed  to  it. 

This  result  appears  to  have  astonished  southern  members  more  than 
the  previous  vote,  and  Mr.  Lownds,  of  South  Carolina,  expressing  his 
surprise,  moved  to  lay  the  bill  on  the  table  in  order  to  call  it  up  the  next 
day  at  twelve  o'clock,  when  he  hoped  that  every  member  would  be  in  his 
place.  The  House  complied  with  his  request. 

Accordingly,  on  the  following  day  the  bill  was  taken  up,  and  Mr. 
Robertson,  of  Kentucky,  moved  to  recommit  the  bill  to  a  select  commit 
tee,  with  instructions  to  strike  out  the  amendment  which  had  been  in- 


MR.    CLAY    GIVES    CASTING  VOTE.  53 

serted  declaring  all  persons  bora  after  the  admission  of  Arkansas  as  a 
State  should  be  free  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  years.  On  this  question 
the  same  number  of  votes  were  cast  as  on  the  motion  for  reconsideration 
taken  on  the  previous  day,  but  there  were  now  eighty-eight  in  the  affirm 
ative  and  eighty-eight  in  the  negative.  The  vote  of  the  Speaker  (Mr. 
Clay)  was  now  demanded  by  the  rules  of  the  House  in  order  to  decide 
the  question.  But  that  officer,  who  had  so  recently  exhibited  such  ad 
miration  for  freedom,  now  iugloriously  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  south 
ern  influence  and  voted  in  the  affirmative.* 

This  vote  decided  the  whole  question.  Indeed,  the  subsequent  vote, 
agreeing  to  the  report  of  the  committee  striking  out  the  amendment,  was 
agreed  to  by  ninety  members  to  eighty-six  who  opposed  it,  Messrs.  Bald 
win,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Campbell,  of  Ohio,  and  Whitman,  of  Massachusetts, 
voting  with  the  slaveholders,  and  it  became  a  maxim  that  southern 
members  would  always  control  enough  northern  votes  to  secure  any 
measure  favorable  to  slavery. 

We  have  been  particular  in  the  details,  connected  with  this  first  deci 
sion  of  Congress  in  favor  of  extending  slavery,  though  it  is  believed 
that  few  of  those  who  then  sanctioned  this  extension  of  barbarism  were 
conscious  of  the  momentous  interests  involved  in  that  contest.  The  de 
bate  upon  it,  however,  was  able  and  earnest,  embracing  nearly  all  the 
arguments  which  were  brought  forward  on  the  various  questions  touch 
ing  the  extension  of  slavery  in  subsequent  years. 

When  the  bill  reached  the  Senate,  a  motion  was  made  so  to  amend  it 
as  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  territory,  but  the  motion  was  rejected, 
only  fourteen  members  voting  for  it,  while  nineteen  voted  against 
it.  Messrs.  Edwards  and  Thomas,  of  Illinois,  and  Monroe,  of  Ohio, 
voting  with  the  slaveholders.  The  bill  passed  the  Senate  and  became  a 
law. 

An  incident  of  unusual  interest  occurred  during  this  session  of  rigl9 
Congress.  A  bill  to  authorize  the  people  of  Missouri  Territory 
to  form  a  constitution  and  State  government  was  introduced  in  the 
House  of  Representatives.  When  it  came  under  debate,  Mr.  Tall- 
madge,  of  New  York,  proposed  an  amendment  declaring  all  persons  born 
of  slave  mothers  after  admission  of  the  State  should  be  free  at  the  age 
of  twenty-five  years. 

The  debate  on  this  proposition  was  rendered  remarkable  on  account 
of  the  important  principles  discussed,  the  interests  involved,  the  precedent 

*  The  author  has  good  authority  for  saying  that  Mr.  Clay  regretted  this  vote  in  subsequent  life. 
Indeed,  no  man  made  stronger  protestations  against  the  extension  of  slavery  than  he  did  after 
wards  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 


54  SLAVERY   IN   MISSOURI   AGITATED. 

established  and  the  influence  which  it  exerted  upon  subsequent  legislation 
and  the  cause  of  Christian  civilization. 

Southern  statesmen  had  long  looked  upon  the  purchase  of  Louisiana, 
with  its  vast  extent  of  territory,  as  certain.  Slavery  had  already  found 
existence  in  that  portion  which  was  then  inhabited,  and  they  had  n'o 
doubt  of  its  being  extended  over  the  whole,  which  at  no  distant  day 
would  furnish  a  large  number  of  additional  slave  States,  increasing  the 
influence  and  political  power  of  the  institution.  They  had  already  secured 
a  controlling  influence  in  the  Government,  had  defeated  the  attempt  to 
establish  freedom  in  Arkansas,  and  now  entered  upon  the  work  of  estab 
lishing  slavery  in  Missouri  with  great  confidence. 

The  statesmen  of  the  free  North  entered  upon  the  contest  surrounded 
by  many  discouragements.  Since  1793  the  powers  of  Government  had 
been  exerted  in  favor  of  the  institution.  Northern  members  were  con 
servative.  Mr.  Clay,  who  was  then  exerting  more  influence  in  Congress 
than  any  other  member,  had  been  looked  to  with  much  hope  ;  but  he 
had  lent  his  vote  to  establish  slavery  in  Arkansas,  and  men  of  experi 
ence  entertained  the  opinion  that  he  would  do  the  same  in  regard  to  Mis 
souri.  But  the  free  States  were  the  most  populous",  and  furnished  the 
greatest  number  of  Representatives.  They  had  been  educated  in  the 
love  of  liberty,  and  if  true  to  the  cause  of  freedom  they  would  have  pre 
vailed.  They  knew  that  the  Government  had  been  founded  upon  prin 
ciples  of  universal  liberty,  and  they  felt  confident  in  the  justice  of  their 
cause,  and  conscious  of  the  responsibility  resting  upon  them. 

On  the  motion  of  Mr.  Tallmadge,  northern  members  pointed  out  the 
evils  of  slavery,  showed  how  its  extension  over  Missouri  would  entail  ig 
norance,  degradation  and  suffering  upon  its  pecple  ;  that  at  some  future 
day  it  would  drench  that  fair  land  in  blood.  They  referred  to  its  inherent 
crimes,  its  barbarous  character,  and  entire  incompatibility  with  republican 
principles. 

But  the  advocates  of  slavery  would  not  discuss  its  moral  character. 
Nor  would  they  examine  the  primal  truths  enunciated  by  the  founders 
of  our  Government.  They  dwelt  altogether  upon  technicalities.  They 
denied  the  right  of  Congress  to  reject  a  State  whose  Constitution  admit 
ted  slavery.  They  assumed  this  as  their  predicate,  without  assigning 
reasons  or  explanation.  On  this  assumption  they  rested  all  their  argu 
ments. 

And  when  this  postulate  was  denied  and  its  fallacy  exposed,  they  ap 
pear  to  have  become  irritated  and  had  recourse  to  threats  and  intimida 
tion.  They  spoke  of  "  the  ides  of  March,"  of  the  "  fate  of  Ca3sar  and 
of  Rome."  They  asserted  that  if  northern  members  persisted  in  exclud- 


DISSOLUTION   OF  THE  UNION   THREATENED.  55 

ing  slavery  from  the  Territories,  the  Union  would  be  dissolved.  They 
insisted  that  northern  members  had  already  "  kindled  a  fire  which  the 
waters  of  ocean  could  not  extinguish." 

To  this  it  was  replied  that  if  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  must  take 
place  in  consequence  of  maintaining  freedom,  "let  it  be  so."  "  If  blood 
were  necessary  to  extinguish  the  love  of  liberty,  it  must  flow."  The  ad 
vocates  of  justice  and  freedom  were  ready  to  die  in  the  cause  which  they 
advocated.* 

The  debate  was  commenced  on  Mr.  Tallmadge's  proposition,  on  the  13th 
February,  and  continued  until  the  16th,  when  the  vote  was  taken,  and  the 
amendment  was  adopted  by  82  in  the  affirmative,  to  78  in  the  negative. 

Mr.  Smith,  of  Maryland,  and  Mr.  Hall,  of  Delaware,  being  the  only 
members  from  slave  States  who  voted  in  favor  of  the  amendment,  while 
Messrs.  Parrott,  of  New.  Hampshire;  Holmes,  Mason,  and  Shaw,  of 
Massachusetts  ;  Mason,  of  Rhode  Island  ;  Conger  and  Storrs,  of  New 
York  ;  Bloomfield  and  Kinney,  of  New  Jersey;  Beecher  and  Harrison, 
of  Ohio,  voted  with  the  advocates  of  slavery. 

The  bill,  thus  amended,  passed  the  House  by  a  large  majority,  and 
was  sent  to  the  Senate.  When  it  came  under  consideration  in  that  body, 
a  motion  was  made  to  strike  out  the  amendment  inserted  by  the  House, 
and  thus  was  the  bald  question  of  slavery  or  freedom  in  Missouri  pre 
sented  to  the  choice  of  Senators.  There  was  but  little  debate  on  the  sub 
ject,  but  the  proposition  was  sustained,  and  the  restriction  stricken  out 
by  a  vote  of  30  in  the  affirmative  to  6  in  the  negative  ;  Messrs.  Dagget 
and  Dana,  of  Connecticut  ;  Palmer  and  Tichenor,  of  Vermont ;  King  and 
Sandford,  of  New  York  ;  Leach  and  Roberts,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Storer, 
of  New  Hampshire,  and  Otis,  of  Massachusetts,  representing  free 
States,  voted  with  the  slaveholders  against  the  establishment  of  liberty 
in  Missouri. 

The  entire  history  of  our  nation  and  of  other  governments  show  that 
the  further  public  officers  are  removed  from  the  power  of  the  people,  the 
less  anxious  are  they  to  secure  the  people's  rights  ;  certainly  no  fact  is 
more  apparent  in  our  own  history,  than  that  the  Senate,  up  to  the  time 
of  the  great  rebellion  of  1861,  on  almost  all  questions  involving  popular 
rights,  acted  with  the  slaveholders.  On  this  occasion,  only  six  of  the 
twenty  Senators  from  free  States  voted  for  freedom,  while  twelve  voted 

*  Forty-two  years  subsequently,  while  the  writer  was  penning  these  pages,  the  great  battle  of 
Pea  Ridge  was  being  fought  by  the  Union  army  of  Missouri.  It  was  the  most  bloody  contest  which 
had  then  occurred  upon  the  American  soil.  There  the  friends  of  freedom  poured  out  their  blood 
freely  in  defence  of  their  cause.  They  achieved  a  glorious  victory,  and  by  the  sacrifice  of  more 
than  a  thousand  valuable  lives,  established  liberty  in  Missouri,  which  was  basely  surrendered  by 
northern  statesmen  in  1819. 


56  THE  ERROR  OF   SERVILE  POLITICIANS. 

for  slavery  in  Missouri.     The  bill,  being  thus  amended,  -was  returned  to 
the  House  for  concurrence. 

The  session  was  near  its  close  and  the  bill  was  immediately  taken  up  for 
consideration  in  that  body,  and  after  a  short  debate,  the  amendment  of  the 
Senate  was  disagreed  to  by  a  vote  of  76  in  the  affirmative  to  78  in  the 
negative.  The  Senate  insisted  on  their  amendment,  and  the  House 
adhering  to  the  bill  as  it  passed  that  body,  it  was  lost,  and  no  law  in 
regard  to  the  admission  of  Missouri  was  passed  at  that  session. 

This  rejection  of  slavery  in  Missouri  was  complained  of  by  southern 
papers  and  politicians  as  dictated  by  sectional  interests  and  sectional  pre 
judices.  Southern  men  having  refused  to  examine  the  moral  question, 
appeared  to  think  that  other  sections  of  the  country  would  only  look  at 
its  political  or  sectional  influence.  To  this  period  we  may  trace  that 
error  which  became  chronic  in  the  minds  of  servile  politicians,  of  charac 
terizing  the  advocates  of  unchanging  truth,  justice,  and  freedom,  as  sup 
porters  of  a  sectional  issue. 

But  this  successful  resistance  against  the  extension  of  slavery 
awakened  in  the  northern  mind  a  spirit  of  determined  adherence  to  the 
doctrine  of  human  rights,  which,  from  that  time  never  slumbered  nor 
slept  ;  although  many  years  elapsed  before  it  attained  such  strength  as 
to  be  heard  by  the  nation. 

1819  .j  At  this  closing  session  of  the  fifteenth  Congress,  the  people  of 
Illinois,  having  framed  a  constitution  and  State  government,  asked 
admission  to  the  Union.  The  constitution  reserved  to  the  people  of  that 
State  the  right  to  employ  slaves  at  the  salt  works,  near  Shawneetown,  until 
the  year  1825,  and  to  require  all  persons  serving  in  that  State  under 
indentures  to  continue  in  service  such  time  as  had  been  stipulated. 

On  admitting  the  State  a  question  was  raised  as  to  the  consistency  of  this 
constitution  with  the  ordinance  of  1787,  and  on  this  question  a  debate 
arose  in  which  Mr.  Tallmadge,  of  New  York,  declared  that  he  would  not 
argue  the  barbarous  character  of  slavery,  saying,  "  that  stigma  must  be 
cast  from  us  as  soon  as  possible."  In  answer  to  this,  Mr.  Poindexter,  of 
Mississippi,  asserted  that  the  "  whole  South  regarded  slavery  as  a  curse, 
and  were  anxious  to  get  rid  of  it  at  the  earliest  moment  possible." 

But  Mr.  Harrison,  of  Ohio,  denied  that  the  ordinance  of  1787  im 
posed  any  obligation  upon  the  people  of  Illinois  to  discard  slavery.  And 
he  assured  gentlemen  that  Ohio  would  never  ask  Congress  whether  she 
might  adopt  slavery  or  not.* 

*  This  subserviency  to  the  slave  power  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Harrison  probably  constituted  tho 
secret  of  his  election  to  the  Presidency  in  1840.  While  Mr.  Clay's  love  of  liberty,  doubtless,  defeated 
bim  in  1844,  as  the  southern  States  opposed  his  election. 


ILLINOIS    ADMITTED.  57 

The  bill  admitting  Illinois  under  her  constitution  passed  both  Houses 
of  Congress,  and  became  a  law. 

Further  claims  for  slaves  deported  by  the  British  army  at  the  close  of 
the  late  war,  were  presented  and  referred,  and  reports  were  made  show 
ing  the  progress  of  the  Executive  in  obtaining  a  reference  of  all  ques 
tions  touching  those  claims  to  the  umpirage  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia  ; 
and  the  fifteenth  Congress  was  brought  to  a  close. 


58  MISSOURI  CONTROVERSY  RESUMED. 


CHAPTER  IT. 

THE    NUMBER   OF    SLATE    STATES   INCREASED. 

1S19 ,  THE  meeting  of  the  sixteenth  Congress  was  looked  to  with  much 
interest  by  the  people  generally,  and  with  apprehensions  by  the 
more  timid.  The  continuance  of  the  Union  had  been  threatened  at  the 
previous  session,  and  many  honest  men  of  the  free  States  entertained  fears 
that  these  threats  would  be  carried  into  execution  if  slavery  were  exclud 
ed  from  Missouri. 

Mr.  Clay  was  elected  speaker  of  the  House,  and  on  assuming  the  duties 
of  his  office,  he  made  a  short  speech  alluding  to  the  important  questions 
which  would  come  before  them.  On  the  8th  December  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  authorize  the  people  of  Missouri  to  form  a 
constitution  and  State  government. 

On  the  following  day  the  bill  was  reported  in  the  usual  form  and  was 
made  the  order  of  the  day. 

On  the  14th,  it  was  taken  up  for  consideration,  when  Mr.  Taylor,  of 
New  York,  moved  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  take  into  consider 
ation  and  report  a  general  law  for  excluding  slavery  from  the  territories 
west  of  the  Mississippi.  The  proposition  prevailed,  and  the  consideration 
of  the  bill  was  postponed  to  await  the  report  of  the  committee. 
1820 ,  It  was  expected  that  the  Speaker,  according  to  parliamentary 
usage,  would  appoint  a  committee  favorable  to  the  proposition, 
but  it  appears  that  he  was  either  deceived  in  regard  to  the  character  of 
some  members  of  the  committee,  or  he  intentionally  violated  the  usages 
of  the  House  ;  for  on  the  29th  January,  Mr.  Taylor  reported  from  the 
committee 'that  they  could  not  agree  upon  any  action  on  the  subject. 

The  bill  for  authorizing  the  people  of  Missouri  to  form  a  State  consti 
tution  and  government  was  again  taken  up,  when  Mr.  Storrs,  of  New 
York,  proposed  to  add  a  new  section,  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  territo 
ries  of  the  United  States  north  of  the  38th  degree  of  latitude. 

Although  representing  a  free  constituency,  Mr.  Storrs,  with  much  abil 
ity,  opposed  the  restriction  of  slavery  in  Missouri,  insisting  that  the  peo 
ple  of  that  territory  ought  to  be  permitted  to  dispose  of  the  subject 
according  to  their  own  will,  tacitly  denying  that  the  slave  was  entitled 
to  any  consideration.  Indeed,  no  advocate  for  extending  slavery  appeared 
conscious  that  any  moral  principle  was  involved. 


THE   MISSOURI   CONTROVERSY.  59 

To  this  it  was  replied  that,  if  slavery  were  just  and  profitable,  it  ought 
to  be  extended;  if  unjust  and  criminal,  it  should  not  only  be  restricted  but 
blotted  out ;  that  it  were  absurd  to  say  it  was  just  and  right  up  to  a  cer 
tain  degree  of  latitude,  and  unjust  and  criminal  north  of  such  line  ;  that 
the  guilt,  the  turpitude  of  slavery  consisted  in  its  perpetration  and  not  in 
the  place  of  committing  the  crime. 

As  the  legislatures  of  different  States  assembled,  the  absorbing  question 
of  admitting  Missouri  attracted  their  attention.  Pennsylvania  appealed 
to  the  other  States  "  to  refuse  to  covenant  with,  crime,"  and  by  a  unanimous 
vote  declared  it  the  duty  as  well  as  the  right  of  Congress  to  prohibit 
slavery  in  Missouri. 

New  Jersey  arid  Delaware  followed  by  unanimous  vote  of  their  legisla 
tures.  Nor  was  New  York  backward  on  the  subject.  The  Legisla 
ture  of  that  important  State  adopted  resolutions  calling  on  Con 
gress  to  inhibit  slavery  in  Missouri;  and  all  parties  united  in  reelect- 
ing  Mr.  King  to  the  Senate  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  the  policy  of 
restricting  the  institution.  Ohio  also  followed  the  example  set  by  her  sister 
States,  and  adopted  resolutions  calling  on  Congress  to  restrict  slavery  to 
the  States  in  which  it  then  existed. 

The  legislatures  of  the  New  England  States  were  silent ;  but  their  peo 
ple  sent  numerous  memorials  to  Congress,  asking  that  body  to  save  the 
nation  from  the  further  extension  of  slavery.  Kentucky,  Virginia,  and 
Maryland,  through  their  legislatures,  memorialized  Congress  in  favor  of 
permitting  Missouri  to  establish  slavery,  if  her  people  desired  its  existence 
among  them.  A  large  meeting  was  held  in  Baltimore,  at  which  the  mayor 
presided,  and  strong  resolutions  against  the  extension  of  slavery  were 
adopted.  But  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  alone  spoke  of  slavery  as 
a  crime,  and  invoked  Congress  "  to  refuse  to  covenant  with  it."  Others 
referred  to  the  institution  as  wrong,  as  unjust,  impolitic,  Sfc.,  but  exhibited 
an  apparent  delicacy  in  characterizing  the  deep  moral  turpitude  of  "the 
institution. 

On  receipt  of  these  memorials  and  legislative  resolves,  the  bill  relating 
to  Missouri  was  laid  aside,  and  that  admitting  Maine  to  form  a  State 
government  and  constitution  was  taken  up  for  consideration. 

Mr.  Clay,  Speaker  of  the  House,  now  opposed  the  admission  of  Maine, 
and  assigned  as  the  cause  of  his  opposition  the  efforts  to  restrict 
slavery  in  Missouri.  But  this  unjust  and  unstatesmanlike  effort  was 
promptly  met  and  exposed  and  almost  unanimously  voted  down.  The 
bill  admitting  Maine  was  passed  and  sent  to  the  Senate  for  concur 
rence  ;  and  that  admitting  Missouri  was  again  taken  up  for  considera 
tion. 


60  THE   MISSOURI   CONTROVERSY. 

As  the  debate  continued  to  occupy  the  House  of  Representatives,  the 
attention  of  the  people  became  more  intensely  attracted  to  the  subject  ; 
and  for  the  first  time  the  northern  States  appeared  to  realize  that  the 
moral  sentiment  of  the  nation  was  paralized  by  the  slave  power.  News 
papers  called  attention  of  their  readers  to  that  provision  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  which  gives  to  each  State  equal  powers  and  influence  in  pro 
portion  to  their  free  population,  and  then  superadds  three  votes  for  every 
five  slaves  whom  the  people  of  such  State  may  hold  in  bondage.  They  said 
the  provision  which  thus  gave  a  bounty  to  slaveholders  was  the  work  of 
those  who  framed  the  Constitution;  but  if  that  bounty  were  extended  to 
Missouri,  the  generation  who  perpetrated  such  an  outrage  must  bear  the 
odium. 

But  this  superiority  of  influence  had  been  acknowledged  by  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution ;  and  slaveholders  had  been  led  to  believe  it  a  just  ac 
knowledgment  of  their  superior  excellence.  These  considerations  seemed 
to  embitter  the  contest.  The  people  of  both  slave  and  free  States 
became  excited.  The  arrival  of  mails  was  watched  with  interest  in  every 
village,  hamlet  and  city.  All  eyes  were  turned  towards  Congress.  The 
action  of  every  member  was  watched  by  his  constituents,  and  a  determi 
nation  was  manifested  to  hold  members  responsible  for  their  course  upon 
the  subject  of  liberty. 

While  the  debate  in  the  House  was  progressing,  the  Senate  took  up 
for  consideration  the  bill  admitting  Maine.  An  amendment  proposing  to 
admit  Missouri  was  offered,  and  Mr.  Roberts,  of  Pennsylvania,  proposed 
to  amend  the  amendment  by  inserting  a  prohibition  of  slavery  in  Mis 
souri. 

Thus  both  Houses  of  Congress  were  engaged  at  the  same  time  in  dis 
cussing  the  important  question  of  extending  slavery,  which  was  fraught 
with  such  momentous  consequences  to  the  nation  and  to  posterity. 

iiorthern  Senators  appeared  more  inspired  with  the  spirit  of  freedom 
than  at  any  time  since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  They  referred 
to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  insisted  that  the  primal  truths 
therein  enunciated  ought  not  to  be  departed  from.  But  eloquence  and 
logic  could  not  reach  the  hearts  of  slaveholders.  Southern  members  of 
the  Senate  followed  the  example  set  them  in  the  House  of  Represent 
atives.  They  steadily  and  persistently  refused  to  debate  primal  truths, 
or  moral  principles.  Assuming  as  their  predicate  that  Congress  was 
bound  to  admit  any  new  State  with  such  constitution  as  its  people  should 
adopt,  they  based  their  arguments  upon  that  postulate,  from  which 
they  reasoned  ably  and  ingenuously. 

In  all  their  arguments  they  denied  that  human  governments  were 


THE   MISSOURI   CONTEOVEE8Y.  61 

limited  in  their  legitimate  powers  to  the  administration  of  justice,  insist 
ing  that  they  held  the  political  right  to  enslave  the  African  race,  and 
render  them  subservient. to  the  will  of  their  masters  ;  and  uttered  threats 
of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  if  northern  members  persisted  in  their 
efforts  to  inhibit  slavery  in  the  Territories.  To  the  Hon.  Ninian 
Edwards,  of  Illinois,  belongs  the  honor  or  the  odium  of  enunciating 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  his  own  moral  cowardice.  lie  spoke 
of  the  feeling  in  the  free  States  against  the  extension  of  slavery,  declar 
ing  he  could  not  contemplate  it  except  with  horror.  He  insisted  that 
the  slave  States  were  opposed  to  slavery,  and  would  rid  themselves  of  it 
Boon  as  Providence  should  open  a  way  for  its  abolition,  and  closed  by 
saying  he  should  vote  against  the  restriction  "  to  save  the  Union  ;"  and 
this  language  was  repeated  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  House  of  Represent 
atives  during  the  succeeding  forty  years,  and  constituted  the  reason  for 
every  surrender  of  human  rights  and  northern  honor,  until  southern  men 
actually  seceded  from  the  Union.  Yet  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  suppose 
that  Mr.  Edwards  or  others,  who  thus  surrendered  their  independence 
at  the  dictation  of  southern  members,  believed  that  in  thus  encouraging 
the  advocates  of  slavery,  strengthening  and  confirming  them  in  the 
opinion  that  the  Union  was  chiefly  beneficial  to  the  free  States,  they 
were  hastening  the  very  event  which  they  professed  to  deprecate. 

The  feeling  among  the  people  of  the  free  States  appeared  to  have  a 
different  effect  upon  Mr.  Otis,  of  Massachusetts,  who  had,  up  to  that 
time,  usually  spoken  and  voted  with  southern  members.  He  now 
changed  his  position  and  stood  forth  among  the  ablest  and  boldest 
champions  of  freedom. 

After  spending  some  two  weeks  in  debating  this  question,  the  Senate 
proceeded  to  vote  on  the  proposition  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the  contem 
plated  State  of  Missouri,  when  it  was  found  that  only  sixteen  members 
were  in  favor  of  it,  while  there  were  twenty-seven  against  it  ;  all  mem 
bers  from  the  slave  States  voting  against  it,  assisted  by  Messrs.  Parrott, 
of  New  Hampshire  ;  Palmer,  of  Vermont  ;  Hunter,  of  Rhode  Island  ; 
Lanman,  of  Connecticut  ;  Edwards  and  Thomas,  of  Illinois.  The  inhi 
bition  being  rejected,  Mr.  Thomas,  of  Illinois,  offered  an  amendment, 
prohibiting  slavery  in  the  Louisiana  purchase,  north  of  the  line  of 
Arkansas. 

Mr.  Trimble,  of  Ohio,  moved  to  amend  that  proposition  by  excluding 
it  from  Arkansas  also  ;  but  this  latter  proposition  was  rejected,  24  to  20, 
the  Senators  from  Illinois  and  Indiana  voting  against  it.  The  vote  was 
the ji  taken  on  excluding  slavery  from  the  remainder  of  the  Louisiana 
purchase,  and  it  was  carried,  34  to  10.  With  these  amendments,  tho 


62  THE   MISSOURI   CONTROVERSY. 

bill  admitting  Maine  was  attached  to  that  admitting  Missouri,  and  the 
two  bills  thus  consolidated  passed  the  Senate,  24  to  20,  and  was  trans 
mitted  to  the  House  for  concurrence.  . 

Nor  had  the  lower  branch  been  idle  while  the  debate  was  progressing 
in  the  Senate.  lu  that  body  the  history  of  slavery  was  traced  to  its 
origin  ;  its  crimes  and  guilt  were  brought  out  to  the  public  gaze  ;  its 
unequivocal  character,  its  violation  of  natural  law,  of  natural  justice, 
was  set  forth  in  forcible  language  ;  its  effect  upon  the  prosperity  of 
nations,  its  perfect  inconsistency  with  Christian  civilization  were  forcibly 
presented. 

To  this  it  was  replied  that  slavery  had  existed  among  all  ancient 
nations  ;  that  it  was  necessary  in  warm  latitudes,  where  white  men  could 
not  endure  the  heat  ;  that  our  Federal  Constitution  had  recognized  its 
existence,  and  southern  men  would  not  now  examine  its  justice  or  injus 
tice  ;  and  northern  members  were  appealed  to  and  exhorted  to  forget 
their  prejudices  in  favor  of  freedom,  in  order  "  to  save  the  Union."  Mem 
bers  from  the  slave  States  boasted  of  their  devotion  to  the  Union,  and 
begged  that  northern  members  would  not  press  their  views  of  liberty  too 
far,  lest  they  should  drive  slaveholding  members  to  dissolve  the  Union 
which  they  so  highly  prized,  asserting  that  every  people  held  the  right 
to  judge  for  themselves  whether  they  would  or  would  not  establish 
slavery. 

Northern  members  admitted  that  the  doctrine  advanced  would  be  con 
sistent  in  a  Pagan  government ;  but  was  entirely  opposed  to  Christianity, 
which  denied  that  those  who  administer  human  governments  could  inno 
cently  enslave  men  who  had  committed  no  crime  or  offence. 
18201  ^n  ^e  19th  February,  the  House  took  up  the  bill  from  the 
Senate,  and  disagreed  to  the  amendments  made  in  that  body 
after  four  days'  debate,  and,  having  returned  the  bill  with  their  disagree 
ment,  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  proposition  to  inhibit  slavery  in 
the  contemplated  State  of  Missouri. 

On  the  27th  February,  the  House,  in  committee,  agreed  to  the  clause 
restricting  slavery  in  Missouri,  and  the  bill  was  reported  to»  the  House. 
On  the  29th,  that  body,  while  considering  the  amendments,  reached  the 
restrictive  proposition,  and  it  was  agreed  to,  94  members  voting  in  favor 
of  it,  to  86  against  it,  Messrs.  Holmes,  Mason,  and  Shaw,  of  Massachu 
setts  ;  Storrs  and  Meigs,  of  New  York  ;  and  Baldwin,  of  Pennsylvania, 
voting  with  the  advocates  of  slavery  ;  and  the  bill  passed  the  House  by 
vote  of  91  to  82,  and  was  transmitted  to  the  Senate  for  concurrence  on 
the  1st  March. 

The  Senate  proceeded  at  once  to  consider  the  bill,  and  by  vote  of  21 


THE   MISSOURI   CONTROVERSY.  63 

to  15  struck  out  the  restrictive  clause,  Messrs.  Tichener  and  Palmer,  of 
Vermont ;  Hunter,  of  Rhode  Island  ;  Lanman,  of  Connecticut ;  Par- 
rott,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Thomas  and  Edwards,  of  Illinois,  again 
voting  with  the  adherents  of  slavery.  The  Senate  next  amended  the 
bill  by  adopting  a  clause  excluding  slavery  from  all  that  portion  of  the 
Louisiana  purchase  lying  north  of  36  deg.  30  min.  north  latitude, 
and  returned  the  bill,  with  their  amendments,  for  concurrence  by  the 
House. 

The  House  disagreed  to  the  Senate's  amendment  attached  to  the  bill 
admitting  Maine,  and  the  Senate  having  adhered  to  their  amendment, 
demanded  a  committee  of  conference. 

The  House  of  Representatives  complied  with  this  demand,  and  the 
committee  being  appointed,  did  not  confine  their  action  to  the  question 
submitted  to  them,  but  advised  the  Senate  to  recede  from  its  amend 
ment  uniting  the  two  bills  in  one,  and  advised  the  House  to  recede  from 
its  amendment  prohibiting  slavery  in  Missouri,  and  that  both  branches 
should  adopt  a  clause  excluding  the  institution  from  the  remainder  of  the 
territory  purchased  of  France.  * 

This  was  literally  the  compromise,  which  became  so  celebrated  in  Amer 
ican  history.  It  consisted  of  covenants,  entered  into  by  the  members  of 
Congress,  professing  to  act  for  and  on  behalf  of  the  people  whom  they 
represented,  as  follows  : 

First.  The  people  of  Maine  were  to  be  authorized  to  form  a  State 
government  and  constitution. 

Second.  The  people  of  Missouri  were  to  be  authorized  to  form  a  State 
constitution  and  government  without  restriction  as  to  slavery. 

Third.  Slavery  was  to  be  excluded  from  the  remaining  portion  of  the 
Louisiana  territory. 

In  making  this  recommendation,  the  committee  clearly  transcended  its 
powers,  as  the  bill  concerning  Missouri  had  not  been  committed  to  them 
for  consideration. 

The  House,  however,  immediately  took  up  the  bill  to  authorize  the 
formation  of  a  constitution  and  State  government  in  Missouri,  with  the 
amendment  made  in  the  Senate,  striking  out  the  clause  inhibiting  slavery, 
and  it  was  ascertained  that  90  members  were  in  favor  of  agreeing  to  the 
action  of  the  Senate,  while  only  87  were  opposed  to  it  1 

The  following  members  from  the  free  States  voted  in  favor  of  agree 
ing  to  the  Senate's  amendment,  to  wit  :  Messrs.  Holmes,  Mason,  Hill, 
and  Shaw,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Eddy,  of  Rhode  Island  ;  Foote  and 
Stevens,  of  Connecticut ;  Bloomfield,  Kinney,  and  Smith,  of  New  Jersey ; 
Storrs  and  Meigs,  of  New  York  ;  Baldwin  and  Fullerton,  of  Pennsyl- 


THE  MISSOURI   CONTROVERSY. 

vania.  Messrs.  Edwards,  of  Connecticut  ;  Merril,  of  Vermont  •  Case, 
Peck,  and  Thompkins,  of  New  York,  did  not  vote.  It  was  through 
this  defection  of  northern  members  that  slavery  was  established  in 
Missouri. 

The  proviso  excluding  slavery  from  the  territory  north  of  36  deg. 
30  min.  was  then  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  134  to  42. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Mr.  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  denounced 
the  eighteen  northern  members  by  whose  vote  this  compromise  was 
carried,  as  "  DOUGH-FACES,"  and  the  compromise  itself  as  a  "  dirty  bar 
gain." 

Mr.  Randolph  gave  notice  that  he  should  move  a  reconsideration  of 
the  vote  on  the  next  day  ;  but  the  Speaker,  intending  to  put  an  end 
to  the  controversy,  directed  the  Clerk  to  hurry  the  bill  to  the  Senate 
the  same  evening  ;  and  when,  on  the  following  day,  Mr.  Randolph 
attempted  to  make  the  motion  to  reconsider,  he  was  informed  that  the 
bill  had  been  sent  to  the  Senate,  and  his  motion  was,  therefore,  not  in 
order.* 

The  Senate  now  receded  from  its  amendment  to  the  bill  admitting 
Maine,  and  thus  the  compromise  was  consummated  so  far  as  Congress 
was  concerned,  and  the  two  bills  now  awaited  the  Executive  approval. 

At  that  period  the  State  of  Virginia  appeared  to  exert  a  controlling 
influence  in  our  national  politics,  and  the  statesmen  of  that  common 
wealth  seemed  desirous  of  raising  an  issue  in  the  approaching  PresL 
dential  election,  upon  the  power  of  Congress  to  exclude  slavery  from  tha 
Territories  of  the  United  States. 

The  President  (Mr.  Monroe),  to  fortify  himself  on  this  point,  pro 
pounded  to  his  cabinet  two  questions  : 

First.  Has  Congress  the  constitutional  power  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the 
Territories  of  the  United  States  ? 

Second.  Was  the  term  "forever "  used  in  the  bill  authorizing  the 
people  of  Missouri  to  form  a  State  constitution  and  government,  to  be 
understood  as  referring  only  to  the  territorial  condition  of  the  district  to 
which  it  related  ?  Or  was  it  an  attempt  to  extend  the  prohibition  to 
the  States  which  might  at  some  future  day  be  erected  thereon  ? 

On  the  first  question  the  Cabinet  were  unanimously  of  the  opinion  that 
Congress  possessed  the  power  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  Territories  of  the. 
United  States. 

*  Mr.  Clay,  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Randolph,  admitted  that  he  sent  the  bill  thus  early  to  th« 
Senate  for  the  purpose  of  putting  an  end  to  the  debate  ;  Mr.  Randolph  was  greatly  offended  at  tfcfc 
management  of  the  Speaker,  and  the  feeling  created  at  that  time  probably  gave  rise  to  the  duel 
between  those  gentlemen,  which  occurred  some  years  afterwards. 


VIEWS   OF  THE  EXECUTIVE  CABINET.  65 

On  the  second,  Mr.  Adams  alone  declared  in  favor  of  such  construc 
tion  as  would  forever  exclude  slavery  from  such  States  as  might  be 
formed  from  the  territory  embraced  in  the  proviso.  But  at  the  instance 
of  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  second  interrogatory  was  so  modified  as  simply  to 
inquire  whether  the  proviso  as  it  stood  in  the  bill  was  constitutional'? 
And  all  the  cabinet  responded  in  the  affirmative.* 

The  difficulty  on  this  subject,  doubtless,  arose  from  the  proneness  of 
statesmen  to  reason  from  the  incidental  questions  propounded,  rather 
than  to  search  out  the  primal  cause  which  gave  rise  to  them.  Had 
members  of  Congress  and  of  the  Executive  cabinet  borne  in  mind  that 
our  Government  was  based  upon  the  acknowledged  doctrine  that  life 
and  liberty  are  gifts  of  God  constituting  the  rights  of  mankind,  lying 
behind  and  above  human  laws  and  human  governments,  they  would  have 
seen  and  felt  that  Congress  must  have  had  the  same  power  to  exclude 
slavery  from  our  Territories,  that  it  had  to  exclude  murder  or  treason 
from  them,  or  to  exclude  piracy  from  the  high  seas  ;  and  that  States 
formed  from  such  territory  could  have  no  more  authority  to  establish 
slavery  than  they  had  to  establish  murder  or  treason. 

Mr.  Adams,  then  Secretary  of  State,  was  in  the  habit  of  describing, 
in  his  Diary,  his  own  views  upon  important  events  which  were  trans 
piring  around  him  ;  and  we  cannot  better  interest  •  the  reader  than 
to  give  a  short  extract  therefrom,  showing  the  views  and  impressions 
of  that  distinguished  statesman  at  the  time  of  consummating  this  com 
promise. 

"  The  impression,"  said  he,  "produced  on  my  mind  by  the  progress 
of  this  discussion  is,  that  the  bargain  between  freedom  and  slavery  con 
tained  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  is  morally  and  politically 
vicious,  inconsistent  with  the  principles  upon  which  alone  our  Revolution 
can  be  justified  ;  cruel  and  oppressive  by  riveting  the  chains  of  slavery  ; 
in  pledging  the  faith  of  freedom  to  maintain  and  perpetuate  the  tyranny 
of  the  masters  ;  and  grossly  unequal  and  impolitic,  by  admitting  that 
slaves  are  at  once  enemies  to  be  kept  in  subjection  ;  property  to  be  secured 
arid  restored  to  their  owners  ;  and  persons  not  to  be  represented  themselves, 
but  for  whom  the  masters  are  privileged  with  nearly  a  double  share  of 
representation.  The  consequence  has  been  that  this  slave  representation 
has  governed  the  Union.  ...  It  would  be  no  difficult  matter  to  prove 


*  The  opinions  of  the  Cabinet  were  expressed  in  writing  by  each  member ;  but  those  written 
opinions  were  subsequently  lost  from  the  Executive  files,  and  the  above  facts  were  supplied  from 
the  Diary  of  Mr.  Adams,  to  the  correctness  of  which,  Mr.  Calhoun  was  constrained  to  yield  admis 
sion,  although  he  changed  his  ouinion  as  to  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  prohibit 
slavery  in  the  Territories. 

5 


66  EFFECTS    OF    THE   COMPROMISE. 

by  reviewing  the  history  of  the  Union  under  this  Constitution,  that 
almost  everything  which  has  contributed  to  the  honor  and  welfare  of 
the  nation  has  been  accomplished  in  despite  of  them,  and  that  every 
thing  unpropitious  and  dishonorable,  including  the  blunders  and  follies 
of  their  adversaries,  may  be  traced  to  them." 

1820 ,  The  result  of  the  contest  was  deeply  mortifying  to  the  North. 
The  people  of  the  free  States  now  realized  that  they  were  under 
the  rule  of  the  slave  power,  and  felt  a  corresponding  humiliation. 
Governor  Woolcot,  of  Connecticut,  alluding  to  it  in  his  annual  message, 
declared,  "We  may  admit  that  our  southern  brethern  are  as  firmly 
attached  to  liberty  as  ourselves  ;  but  we  cannot  concede  that  they  are 
pur  superiors  without  submitting  to  humiliation  and  reproach.  Pro 
bably  the  claim  has  no  other  foundation  than  in  the  well-known  ardor, 
tenacity  of  opinion,  and  strict  concert  of  action  with  which  the  members 
of  a  privileged  order  invariably  pursue  a  separate  and  exclusive  interest. 
Even  a  tacit  admission  of  inferiority  on  our  part,  by  habitual  conces 
sions,  would  imply  on  our  part  a  secret  preference  for  aristocratic  over 
democratic  institutions."  It  is  certain  that  "  habitual  concessions  "  did 
mark  the  public  action  of  all  the  free  States  during  half  a  century,  and 
that  the  action  of  the  slave  States  during  that  period  was  characterized 
by  "  ardor,  tenacity  of  opinion,  and  strict  concert." 

Pennsylvania  had  been  truly  patient  and  long-suffering.  From  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution  she  had  seen  her  sovereignty  outraged,  her 
free  colored  citizens  kidnapped,  carried  to  slave  States  and  sold  to  inter 
minable  bondage  ;  and  when  she  complained  of  these  outrages  she  had 
been  told  that  such  crimes  in  slave  States  constituted  only  trespasses,  for 
which  relief  must  be  sought  by  suit  for  private  damage.  She  had  seen 
the  fugitive  slave  act  used  for  the  purpose  of  enslaving  free  citizens.  Riots 
and  bloodshed,  growing  out  of  attempts  to  seize  alleged  fugitives,  created 
alarm  on  the  part  of  her  quiet  and  peace-loving  citizens  ;  but  her  indig 
nation  was  aroused  by  the  extension  of  slavery  into  Missouri,  and  her 
Legislature  passed  an  act  forbidding  her  justices  of  the  peace  to  aid  in 
the  arrest  of  fugitive  slaves. 

But  while  much  feeling  was  exhibited  in  the  free  States  against  this 
extension  of  slavery,  the  entire  South  became  united  and  active  in 
favor  of  the  measure.  Mr.  Clay,  the  leading  statesman  of  the  South, 
though  once  an  ardent  supporter  of  liberty,  now  wielded  more  influence 
in  favor  of  extending  slavery  than  any  other  man  of  the  nation.  His 
avowed  theory,  or  attempt  to  palliate  his  own  course,  was,  that  the 
best  cure  for  slavery  was  to  spread  it  over  as  great  an  extent  of  country 
as  possible.  Even  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  had  so  long  been  deemed  the 


THE    SLAVE   TRADE   A   CAPITAL   OFFENCE.  67 

apostle  of  American  liberty,  perhaps  through  senility,  became  alarmed 
lest  this  contest  on  behalf  of  freedom  might  endanger  the  perpetuity  of 
the  Union.  A  letter  from  him  to  that  effect  was  read  on  the  floor  of 
Congress  during  the  debate.  It  may  also  be  cited  as  a  remarkable  fact 
that  among  all  the  southern  members  of  Congress  who  professed  great 
devotion  to  freedom,  not  one  dared  vote  in  its  favor  on  this  important 
question. 

The  contest  had  been  one  of  principle,  but  the  division  on  the  part  of 
the  South  had  been  strictly  sectional,  as  no  slaveholding  member  had 
voted  with  the  North,  while  several  northern  members  in  each  House 
had  voted  with  the  South.  Yet,  with  an  inconsistency  peculiar  to  the 
southern  character,  they  arrogantly  charged  those  of  the  North  with 
getting  up  a  "  sectional  issue" 

Encouraged  by  success  on  the  Missouri  question,  southern  .-1820 
members  at  once  demanded  further  protection  for  the  institution. 
A  vessel  had  landed  in  South  Carolina  with  a  small  number  of  slaves 
imported  from  one  of  the  West  India  islands.  By  existing  laws  the 
ship  and  cargo  were  forfeited.  They  were  seized,  and  the  captain 
arrested.  The  people  of  that  State  memorialized  Congress  to  pass  a  law 
to  exempt  the  ship,  cargo,  and  slaves  from  confiscation,  and  the  captain 
and  crew  from  punishment. 

Some  northern  members  strongly  objected  to  this  mode  of  legislating 
in  behalf  of  men  who  had  violated  the  penal  laws  of  the  country  ;  but 
the  bill  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  by  a  vote  of  85  to  73,  and 
the  Senate  sustained  the  action  of  the  House,  but  left  no  record  of  the 
number  or  names  of  the  Senators  who  voted  for  the  measure. 

But  while  both  Houses  of  Congress  showed  themselves  thus  subser 
vient  to  the  dictates  of  the  slave  power,  a  bill  for  protecting  the  com 
merce  of  the  United  States  being  before  the  House  of  Representatives, 
Mr.  Mercer,  of  Virginia,  proposed  an  amendment,  declaring  the  seizure, 
or  capture,  or  bringing  any  negro  or  mulatto  into  the  United  States, 
should  be  regarded  as  piracy,  punishable  with,  death. 

The  slave  trade  was  regarded  by  the  Christian  world  as  barbarous  and 
heathenish,  and  southern  members  were  unwilling  to  be  placed  in  the 
position  of  sustaining  or  encouraging  it,  particularly  as  no  law  had 
proven  effective  against  it,  or  was  likely  to  abolish  it  so  long  as  the 
public  officers  and  people  of  the  slave  States  lent  it  a  tacit  support  by 
purchasing  the  slaves  broup-ht  to  them,  and  refused  to  punish  those  who 
supplied  them  with  laborers  ;  and  the  amendment  of  Mr.  Mercer  passed 
almost  without  opposition.  Thus,  the  same  Congress  which  stamped  the 
purchase  and  enslavement  of  men  in  Africa  as  the  most  odious  of  crimes, 


NOKTHERN    MEMBERS    DISCARDED. 

sanctioned  and  approved  the  same  felonious  acts  when  committed  in  the 
West  India  Islands  or  in  Missouri. 

The  President  transmitted  a  message  and  documents  to  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress,  showing  that  both  African  and  West  Indian  slaves 
were  constantly  carried  through  Amelia  Island,  and  other  parts  of 
Florida  and  the  Indian  country,  to  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  Mississippi 
and  Louisiana  ;  that  the  people  of  those  States  were  in  the  practice  of 
obtaining  slaves  in  this  way  notwithstanding  the  laws  which  prohibited 
the  traffic. 

Upon  the  receipt  of  this  intelligence,  a  joint  resolution  was  introduced 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  requesting  the  President  to  enter  into 
arrangements  with  other  Christian  nations  for  suppressing  this  commerce 
in  mankind.  The  resolution  passed  that  body  by  a  large  majority  ;  but 
the  Senate,  unwilling  to  strike  a  blow  so  fatal  to  the  slave  trade,  re 
jected  the  proposition. 

isso  1  During  the  vacation  of  Congress,  elections  were  held  in  most 
of  the  northern  States,  affording  the  people  a  legitimate  oppor 
tunity  to  express  their  views  in  regard  to  the  extension  of  slavery  into 
Missouri.  Some  of  the  ablest  and  most  popular  men  of  the  free  States 
had  cast  their  votes  in  favor  of  permitting  the  people  of  Missouri  to  hold 
slaves,  to  wield  an  influence  in  the  future  elections  of  President  and 
Yice-President,  and  in  the  Government,  according  to  their  free  popula 
tion,  the  same  as  that  enjoyed  by  northern  men,  superadding  thereto 
three  votes  for  every  five  slaves  whom  they  might  hold  in  bondage. 
The  people  now  visited  their  displeasure  upon  *the  men  who  had  thus 
humiliated  them.  Nearly  every  northern  member  of  Congress  who  had 
favored  the  measure  was  rejected  by  the  people,  and  doomed  thence 
forth  to  private  life. 

At  the  reassembling  of  Congress,  Mr.  Clay,  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  conscious  of  the  popular  feeling  in  the  free  States,  with 
a  high  and  honorable  delicacy,  resigned  his  office,  and  called  on  that 
body  to  elect  another  man  to  preside  over  their  deliberations. 

This  brought  the  action  of  Congress  on  the  Missouri  bill  to  another 
test  before  the  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  Hon.  John 
W.  Taylor,  of  New  York,  had  shown  himself  perhaps  the  most  decidedly 
opposed  to  slavery  in  Missouri  of  any  member  of  the  body,  at  least  his 
opposition  had  been  more  active,  and  northern  members  now  selected 
him  as  their  candidate. 

Hon.  W.  Lownds,  of  South  Carolina,  was  the  leading  candidate  of 
the  South.  He  was  a  man  of  high  moral  character,  of  great  experience, 
and  of  distinguished  ability.  Yet  he  could  not  command  the  united 


DEFEAT   OF   THE    SLAVEHOLDERS.  69 

support  of  the  slave  States.  The  northern  slave  States  were  more  con. 
servative  than  South  Carolina,  and,  on  that  account,  Mr.  Smith,  of  Mary 
land,  was  sust  ained,  while  Pennsylvania,  a  border  free  State,  offered  Mr. 
Sergeant  as  their  favorite  candidate. 

The  contest  was  somewhat  protracted,  and  maintained  with  great 
determination.  On  the  seventeenth  ballot,  Mr.  Lownds*  vote  rose 
within  one  of  an  election  ;  but  northern  members,  conscious  that  the 
eyes  of  their  constituents  were  upon  them,  now  stood  firm,  and,  on  the 
twenty-second  ballot,  Mr.  Taylor  was  elected. 

This  was  the  first  important  defeat  which  the  slave  power  had  met  since 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  northern  members  hailed  it  as  an 
indication  that  the  regime  of  slavery  in  Congress  was  drawing  to  a  close. 

The  President,  in  his  annual  message,  called  the  attention  of  Congress 
to  the  fact  that  all  laws  for  prohibiting  the  slave  trade  had  proven  fruit 
less,  and  that  the  traffic  in  the  bodies  of  the  unoffending  people  of  Africa 
was  yet  carried  on  to  an  alarming  extent  by  the  people  of  our  southern 
States.  The  message  was  respectfully  referred,  but  the  committee  made 
no  report  upon  that  portion  of  it. 

In  pursuance  of  the  law  passed  at  the  previous  session  of  Congress, 
the  people  of  Missouri  had  formed  a  constitution  and  State  government, 
and  now  presented  their  memorial  asking  admission  to  the  Union.  But 
assuming  the  doctrine  proclaimed  by  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  to  be 
correct,  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  refuse  admission  to  a  new  State, 
they  adopted  a  clause  requiring  the  Legislature,  at  their  first  session, 
to  exclude  free  blacks  and  mulattoes  from  the  State,  although  this  class 
of  people  had,  in  a  majority  of  the  States,  voted  for  delegates  to  the 
convention  that  framed  the  federal  compact,  and  were  regarded  as 
"  citizens,"  and  not  only  exercised  the  elective  franchise,  but,  by  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  were  entitled  to  the  privileges  and  immu 
nities  of  "  citizens  of  the  several  States."  The  memorial  and  constitution 
were  referred  by  the  Senate  to  a  select  committee,  who  reported  a  reso 
lution  admitting  Missouri  as  a  State  without  reference  to  this  clause  in 
her  constitution. 

On  this  resolution  an  interesting  debate  arose.  Southern  men  denied 
that  colored  men  were  "  citizens/'  insisting  that  none  were  such  ex 
cept  those  who  were  entitled  to  vote  and  hold  office.  They  also  sneered 
at  those  northern  members  who  called  colored  people  "  citizens."  To 
which  northern  members  replied,  that  in  no  State  were  minors  or  females 
allowed  to  vote,  yet  in  all  the  States  they  were  held  to  be  "citizens  ;" 
and,  as  to  color,  our  fathers  had  looked  upon  colored  men  as  good  and 
worthy  soldiers  and  sailors  during  the  Revolution,  that  they  died  freely 


70  MISSOURI   CONTEST   RENEWED. 

in  order  to  gain  our  independence,  had  voted  in  a  large  majority  of  the 
States  at  the  close  of  the  war,  and  were  entitled  to  enjoy  life,  liberty, 
and  property,  as  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution,  whether  they  were  in 
New  England  or  Missouri. 

Southern  members  then  had  recourse  to  threats  for  dissolving  the 
Union,  in  order  to  intimidate  northern  members.  This  proved  effective; 
the  resolution  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  26  to  18.  Messrs.  Chandler 
and  Holmes,  of  Maine  ;  Parrot,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Edwards  and 
Thomas,  of  Illinois,  and  Taylor,  of  Indiana,  voting  with  the  slave 
holders. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  the  subject  was  referred  to  a  com 
mittee,  of  which  Mr.  Lownds,  of  South  Carolina,  was  chairman.  He 
reported  apologetically  in  favor  of  admitting  Missouri  with  the  constitu 
tion  which  her  people  had  adopted,  leaving  the  question  of  conflict 
between  the  Federal  Constitution  and  that  of  Missouri  to  be  determined 
by  the  judiciary. 

Mr.  Sargeant,  of  Pennsylvania,  a  young  but  talented  member,  now  be 
came  the  leading  speaker  against  the  resolution  for  admitting  Missouri. 
He  insisted  that  every  member  of  Congress  was  bound  by  oath  to  sup 
port  the  Federal  Constitution;  that  this  duty  which  each  had  sworn  to 
perform  for  himself  could  not  be  cast  upon  the  Supreme  Court;  that  Mis 
souri  could  only  ask  admission  to  the  Union  when  she  presented  a  consti 
tution  which  accorded  with  that  of  the  United  States;  that  the  Federal 
Constitution  had  guaranteed  life,  liberty,  and  property  to  all  under  its 
exclusive  jurisdiction.  That  jurisdiction  was  yet  retained  by  Congress,  and 
they  ought  never  to  yield  it  to  any  people  who  by  constitutional  or  legis 
lative  enactment  would  exclude  the  citizens  of  the  States  now  asked  to 
admit  them  to  the  common  sisterhood. 

Southern  members  became  irritated.  They  saw  clearly  that  the  sta 
bility  of  slavery  depended  on  maintaining  the  doctrine  that  Africans  did 
not  belong  to  the  human  family,  that  they  were  property. 

The  debate  occupied  six  days  and  closed  by  an  emphatic  rejection  of 
the  proposition  to  admit  Missouri,  the  vote  standing  93  to  79.  Messrs. 
Baldwin,  of  Pennsylvania;  Bloomfield  and  Smith,  of  New  Jersey;  and 
Meigs,  of  New  York,  being  the  only  members  from  the  free  States  who 
voted  with  the  slaveholders.  All  other  northern  members  who  voted 
with  the  South  during  the  previous  session,  now  changed  position  and 
voted  with  the  free  States. 

The  result  was  unexpected  by  the  advocates  of  slavery.     Mr.  Lownds, ' 
with  much  apparent  feeling,  remarked  that  he  respected  the  opinion  of 
the  majority  and  felt  bound  by  it.     Members  appeared  to  feel  that  the 


ATTEMPTED   COMPROMISE.  71 

sceptre  of  political  power  for  the  time  being  had  departed  from  southern 
hands,  and  was  in  fact  wielded  by  the  North. 

On  the  following  day,  Mr.  Archer,  of  Yirginia,  with  great  apparent 
solemnity,  moved  a  resolution  directing  the  committee  on  the  judiciary  to 
inquire  whether  there  were  any  laws  in  force  in  Missouri  ?  He  spoke 
warmly  and  somewhat  arrogantly  in  favor  of  adopting  this  resolution; 
and  Mr.  Sargeant  promptly  replied  to  his  argument,  and  the  resolution 
was  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote  of  91  to  58. 

An  incident  now  occurred  in  the  course  of  proceeding  which  well  illus 
trates  the  strategy  of  southern  statesmen.  Some  memorials  relative  to 
the  public  lands  were  presented  to  the  House  from  the  people  of  Mis 
souri.  The  clerk,  in  entering  them  upon  the  journal,  referred  to  them  as 
"  memorials  from  the  Stale  of  Missouri.".  The  Speaker,  on  examining  the 
journal,  noticed  the  error,  and  as  was  his  official  duty,  corrected  it  by 
striking  out  the  words  "  State  of,"  leaving  the  memorials  described  as  com 
ing  from  "  Missouri,"  without  designating  it  as  a  State,  or  as  a  territory. 

To  this  action  of  the  Speaker  southern  members  took  exceptions,  as 
though  it  were  a  matter  of  importance ;  charged  him  with  improper  con 
duct,  and  spoke  of  the  South  refusing  to  submit  to  such  despotism.  They 
moved  to  amend  the  journal  by  restoring  the  words  stricken  out;  and  the 
House  being  equally  divided,  the  Speaker,  as  an  evidence  of  his  sincerity, 
and  under  the  conviction  that  the  journal  could  have  no  particular  effect 
one  way  or  the  other,  gave  the  casting  vote  in  favor  of  the  motion.  But 
this  did  not  affect  the  prominent  and  humiliating  fact,  that  the  end  of 
slaveholding  control  appeared  to  have  come.  Southern  men  had  contended 
for  the  principle,  that  a  new  State  demanding  admission  must  be  re 
ceived  into  fellowship  by  the  older  States,  whatever  may  be  the  charac 
ter  of  their  constitutions.  This  doctrine  had  met  with  an  unmitigated 
negation  in  the  House. 

Mr.  Clay  had  arrived  at  Washington  and  taken  his  seat.  On  his  mo 
tion,  the  joint  resolution  of  the  Senate  was  taken  up  by  the  House  for 
consideration,  and  his  utmost  efforts  were  put  forth  in  favor  of  its  adop 
tion.  In  this  he  was  sustained  by  the  ablest  speakers  of  the  South.  The 
resolution  was  finally  referred  to  a  committee  of  thirteen  members,  of 
which  Mr.  Clay  was  chairman. 

Their  report  was  drawn  and  presented  by  Mr.  Clay.  It  referred  to 
the  unfortunate  difference  of  opinion  which  existed  among  the  members; 
spoke  gloomily  of  the  dangers  which  might  result  from  a  failure  of  the 
two  Houses  to  unite,  and  then  recommended  the  admission  of  Missouri 
upon  condition  that  her  Legislature  should  pass  no  laws  excluding  the  ci 
tizens  of  the  United  States  from  her  territory. 


72  COMPKOMISE   DEBATED. 

It  is  not  for  the  historian  to  criticise  the  political  acts  of  any  individ 
ual,  but  it  can  scarcely  be  supposed  that  Mr.  Clay  or  the  members  of  that 
committee  believed  such  condition  would  have  any  effect  upon  the  action 
of  the  Legislature  of  Missouri  after  her  admission.* 

But  the  proposition  was  promptly  met,  exposed  and  voted  down,  and 
the  resolution  of  the  Senate  rejected  by  83  to  80. 

On  the  following  day  Mr.  Livermore,  of  New  Hampshire,  moved  a  re 
consideration  of  this  vote,  and  this  motion  after  a  very  earnest  debate  was 
agreed  to,  and  debate  was  resumed  upon  the  merits  of  the  Senate's  reso 
lution. 

Southern  members  now  spoke  of  the  portentous  consequences  of  reject 
ing  Missouri;  said  it  would  have  the  necessary  effect  of  separating  the 
South  from  the  North,  and  the  Union,  established  at  such  vast  expense 
of  blood  and  treasure,  must  be  dissolved.  But  most  of  the  northern 
members  appear  to  have  remained  unmoved  by  these  appeals  to  their 
moral  cowardice  ;  and  the  Senate's  resolution  was  rejected  by  a 
vote  of  88  to  83,  and  the  subject,  according  to  all  parliamentary 
law  and  the  usages  of  Congress,  was  disposed  of  for  the  session.  But 
1821  i  ^r-  Brown,  of  Kentucky,  offered  a  resolution  directing  the  judi- 
Fob.  21.  J  ciary  committee  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  repealing  the 
act  passed  at  the  previous  session  of  Congress  authorizing  Missouri  to 
form  a  State  government.  The  resolution  was  promptly  rejected  ;  and 
Mr.  Clark,  of  New  York,  offered  another  declaring  that  so  soon  as 
Missouri  should  form  a  constitution  in  accordance  with  that  of  the  United 
States,  Congress  would  admit  her  to  the  Union.  This  was  also  rejected. 

Feb  2s  ]  ^r-  ^av  once  more  came  f°rward,  witn  a  determination  of  pur 
pose  which  many  regarded  as  praiseworthy,  while  others  con 
demned  it  as  an  unworthy  effort  to  extend  slavery.  He  now  proposed  to 
raise  a  joint  committee  of  the  two  Houses  for  the  purpose  of  presenting 
some  plan  for  settling  the  controversy  in  regard  to  the  admission  of  Mis 
souri.  His  proposition  was  sustained;  the  resolution  was  adopted,  and 
a  committee  of  thirteen  on  the  part  of  the  House  was  appointed. 
Feb  28  ]  From  this  committee  Mr.  Clay,  the  chairman,  reported  a  reso 
lution  declaring  that  Missouri  should  thereafter  be  admitted  to 
the  sisterhood  of  States  upon  the  proclamation  of  the  President,  when 
ever  her  legislator  should  officially  pledge  the  State  never  to  pass  any  law 
excluding  citizens  of  the  United  States  from  her  territory. 

On  this  report  there  was  little  debate,  all  apparently  feeling  that  the 

*  It  is  within  the  personal  knowledge  of  the  writer  that  Mr.  Clay  in  subsequent  life  spoke  of  this 
report  as  having  been  made  merely  to  afford  an  excuse  for  northern  members  to  vote  for  the  admie- 
eion  of  Missouri,  and  with  no  idea  that  the  condition  would  be  obligatory  on  the  State  if  admitted. 


COMPROMISE   ADOPTED.  73 

argument  had  been  previously  exhausted,  and  with  much  apparent  solem 
nity  the  vote  was  taken  and  showed  86  in  the  affirmative  and  82  in  the 
negative.  Messrs.  Baldwin,  Samuel  Moore  and  Rogers,  of  Pennsylva 
nia  ;  Bateman,  Bloomfield  and  Smith,  of  New  Jersey  ;  Clark,  Ford, 
Hackley,  Meigs  and  Storrs,  of  New  York  ;  Stevens,  of  Connecticut ; 
Eddy,  of  Rhode  Island;  Hill  and  Shaw,  of  Massachusetts,  toting  with 
the  slaveholders,  while  Messrs.  Clifton,  of  New  Hampshire ;  Cushman,  of 
Massachusetts  ;  Hazzard,  of  Rhode  Island;  Crafts,  of  Vermont;  and 
Tompkius,  of  New  York,  did  not  vote. 

Every  member  from  the  slave  States  voted  for  the  resolution,  assisted 
by  the  fifteen  members  mentioned  from  the  free  States.  With  their  as 
sistance  the  resolution  was  carried  by  four  majority,  while  five  other 
members  from  the  free  States  sat  with  folded  arms  looking  upon  the 
mighty  contest  as  though  they  owed  no  duty  to  either  freedom  or  slavery. 

Yet  this  contest  in  regard  to  Missouri  was  maintained  with  more 
firmness  by  northern  members  than  had  characterized  their  action  at  the 
former  session.  It  was,  however,  regarded  by  intelligent  men  as  an  un 
worthy  surrender  cf  the  Constitution  to  the  supposed  interests  of  slavery. 
And  while  the  odium  was  concentrated  upon  the  individuals  who,  repre 
senting  constituencies  in  the  free  States,  had  lent  their  votes  and  influ 
ence  to  the  triumphs  of  slavery,  the  hatred  of  slaveholding  domination 
now  took  a  stronger  hold  upon  the  northern  mind,  and  struck  deeper 
into  the  hearts  of  the  people,  from  which  it  was  never  subsequently  eradi 
cated.* 

Before  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  Mr.  Meigs,  of  New  York,  as  if 
in  some  degree  to  atone  for  his  persistent  vote  in  favor  of  slavery,  offered 
a  resolution  appropriating  five  hundred  millions  acres  of  laud  as  a  fund 
for  the  purpose  of  abolishing  slavery,  as  he  said,  in  order  to  end  the  con 
troversy  between  slavery  and  freedom.  He  spoke  in  favor  of  his  propo 
sition,  and  was  listened  to  respectfully  ;  but,  as  though  members  appre 
ciated  his  unenviable  position,  nearly  one  half  of  their  number  refused  to 
vote  on  his  proposition,  which  was  laid  on  the  table  without  further  debate. 

This  was  the  last  action  of  the  sixteenth  Congress  upon  the  subject  of 
slavery.  This  triumph  of  the  supporters  of  African  bondage,  inspired 
them  with  a  confidence  which  subsequently  increased  by  further  surren- 
ders/until  it  ripened  into  arrogance,  and  finally  culminated  in  attempts 
to  exercise  an  unrelenting  despotism. 

*  This  remark  is  based  upon  the  distinct  recollection  of  the  author,  who  was  at  the  time  reading 
law,  and,  with  other  inmates  of  the  office,  kept  a  close  watch  of  congressional  proceedings,  and  felt 
deeply  mortified  at  this  betrayal  of  freedom  by  northern  members,  and  the  conviction  that  slavery 
and  freedom  could  never  be  enruuraged  and  upheld  by  the  same  government  at  the  same  time 
never  subsequently  left  hid  mind. 


74:  CONTEST   IN   EEGAKD   TO   SPEAKER. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

THE  ARROGANCE  OF  THE  SLAVE   POWER — ITS  FRAUDS  AND   IMPORTANT  DEFEAT. 

AT  the  opening  of  the  seventeenth  Congress  it  was  quite  ap- 
parent  that  a  deep  feeling  existed  in  favor  of  slavery  on  one  hand 
and  against  it  on  the  other.  The  members  from  the  free  States  who 
in  the  previous  Congress  had  voted  and  acted  with  the  slaveholders  had 
been  discarded  by  their  constituents.  Two  only  of  their  whole  number 
continued  to  hold  seats  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  these  were 
regarded  as  "  spared  monuments"  of  the  people's  mercy.  Mr.  Baldwin, 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  Eddy,  of  Rhode  Island,  had  been  returned  as 
members  of  the  present  House  of  Representatives,  although  they  had 
steadily  voted  for  slavery. 

The  controversy  which  had  characterized  the  former  Congress  was  re 
newed  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  on  the  election  of  Speaker. 
Mr.  Taylor,  of  New  York,  had  been  an  able  and  uncompromising  oppo 
nent  of  slavery  extension,  and  had  served  as  Speaker  during  the  last  ses 
sion  of  the  previous  Congress,  and  was  now  presented  as  the  candidate 
of  the  advocates  of  liberty. 

The  South  had  felt  no  little  mortification  at  the  previous  election  of 
Mr.  Taylor.  They  appeared  fully  conscious  that  to  maintain  their  polit 
ical  ascendency  they  must  designate  the  higher  officers  of  Government, 
who  should  be  elected  under  their  apparent  patronage.  A  majority  of 
members  from  the  slave  States  united  upon  Caesar  A.  Rodney,  of  Dela 
ware,  as  their  candidate. 

But  Virginia  had  been  accustomed  to  control  the  nomination  of  offi 
cers.  She  had  given  to  the  United  States  four  of  the  five  Presidents, 
and  while  the  members  from  slave  States  aspired  to  control  the  nation, 
Virginia  felt  it  one  of  her  prerogatives  to  control  those  members.  Her 
delegation  were  not  satisfied  with  Mr.  Rodney,  and  would  not  assist  in 
his  election.  There  were  seven  ballots  cast  on  the  first  day,  and  the 
highest  number  which  Mr.  Rodney  received  was  sixty-seven,  which  was 
given  on  the  fifth  ballot ;  but  his  vote  fell  to  fifty-nine  on  the  twelfth 
ballot,  when  the  House  adjourned.  During  these  ballotings  Mr.  Tay 
lor's  vote  had  risen  regularly  from  sixty,  given  on  the  first,  to  seventy- 
seven,  which  constituted  his  strength  on  the  last  ballot  of  the  day. 


THE    SLAVE   POWEB  TKIUMPHANT.  75 

On  that  evening  a  majority  of  southern  members  concluded  to  vote  for 
Mr.  Barbour,  of  Virginia,  who  now  became  the  southern  candidate,  and 
was  elected  on  the  twelfth  ballot,  by  eighty-eight  votes,  being  a  majority 
of  the  whole  number  cast. 

With  a  slaveholding  President  and  a  majority  of  slaveholders  in  the 
Cabinet  and  in  the  Supreme  Court,  and  a  slaveholding  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  the  devotees  of  oppression  grasped  the  sceptre 
of  power  with  a  firmer  hand  than  before,  and  bade  defiance  to  any  at 
tempt  that  might  be  made  in  favor  of  the  "  self-evident  truths'7  on  which 
our  republican  edifice  had  been  reared. 

Notwithstanding  the  ill  feelings  engendered  by  the  admission  of  Mis 
souri  with  a  constitution  opposed  to  the  vital  doctrines  of  the  Federal 
compact,  the  President,  in  his  annual  message,  congratulated  the 
people  upon  the  union  and  harmony  that  prevailed  in  Congress 
and  throughout  the  country.  He  referred  to  the  precedent  which  had 
been  set  by  their  predecessors,  agreeably  to  the  doctrine  then  and  for 
many  years  sedulously  inculcated  by  southern  politicians,  that  whatever 
Congress  might  do,  its  action  was  to  be  regarded  by  subsequent  genera 
tions  as  correct  and  binding  upon  all  who  should  thereafter  wield  the  power 
of  Government.  He  went  further,  and  imputed  the  downfall  of  other 
governments  to  established  orders  of  nobility,  instead  of  a  departure  from 
the  dictates  of  pure  and  impartial  justice,  apparently  unconscious  that  in 
our  own  nation  we  cherished  a  despotism  which  must  fall  before  the 
advance  of  Christian  civilization. 

The  President,  unconscious  of  inconsistency,  called  attention  to  the 
illicit  commerce  in  slaves,  carried  on  with  the  people  of  our  southern 
States.  Petitions  from  various  free  States,  asking  Congress  to  take 
efficient  measures  to  abolish  this  traffic,  were  also  presented  to  both 
Houses  of  Congress.  The  message  and  memorials  were  referred  to  a 
select  committee,  who  made  a  frank  and  candid  report,  stating  that  the 
law  declaring  the  slave  trade  to  be  piracy  had  exerted  a  salutary  influ 
ence  in  diminishing  the  horrors  of  that  crime  which  so  deeply  affected  the 
character  of  our  nation  ;  but  added,  that  it  still  continued  to  a  fearful 
extent,  and  that  no  one  nation,  acting  independently,  could  abolish  the 
slave  trade.  They,  therefore,  reported  a  joint  resolution  authorizing 
the  President  to  enter  into  arrangements  with  other  powers  for  the  final 
extinction  of  that  scourge  of  mankind. 

Mr.  Poinsett,  of  South  Carolina,  being  a  member  of  the  committee, 
made  a  minority  report,  declaring  that  the  report  of  the  majority  "  was 
fraught  with  danger  to  the  best  interests  of  the  country."  South  Carolina, 
in  the  convention  which  framed  the  Federal  Constitution,  supported  the 


76  IMPOKTATION    OF   AFKICAN   SLAVES. 

Blave  trade,  and  at  no  time  since  that  period  had  her  people  given 
evidence  of  their  opposition  to  it.  Indeed,  as  has  been  noticed,  her 
statesmen  denied  the  right  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  to 
use  their  combined  efforts  to  abolish  it,  declaring  that  governments  were 
under  no  obligation  to  observe  the  laws  of  justice  towards  the  people 
of  other  nations.  In  maintaining  this  moral  and  political  infidelity, 
South  Carolina  still  supported  her  consistency. 

It  may  illustrate  the  barbarism  of  that  age  as  well  as  of  South  Caro 
lina  to  say  further,  that  the  committee  stated  that  the  number  of  slaves 
imported  into  our  southern  States  was  annually  thirteen  thousand,  even 
while  our  laws  declared  such  importation  piracy  and  punishable  with 
death.  That  from  two  points  on  the  African  coast,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  cargoes  of  slaves  were  annually  exported  to  the  American  continent. 
Yet  such  was  the  moral  paralysis  resting  on  the  public  mind  that  the 
very  men  who  purchased  these  slaves,  and  encouraged  and  made  them 
selves  accessory  to  these  piracies,  were  regarded  as  worthy  citizens  of  a 
free  government. 

Bat  the  resolution  authorizing  the  President  to  make  arrangements 
with  other  governments  for  the  final  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  passed 
the  House  of  Representatives,  only  nine  votes  being  cast  against  its 
adoption. 

18211  ^n  ^e  ^ay  f°H°wmg>  ^r-  Wright,  of  Maryland,  presented 
resolutions  from  the  Legislature  of  that  State,  complaining  that 
the  people  of  Pennsylvania  afforded  aid  and  protection  to  the  fugitive 
slaves  of  their  State,  and  asked  the  protection  of  Congress  against 
such  practices.  The  resolutions  were  referred  to  the  committee  on  the 
judiciary. 

But  the  next  morning  Mr.  Wright  presented  a  resolution  referring 
the  subject  to  a  select  committee,  and  in  debating  this  resolution 
Mr.  Wright  assailed  the  Quakers  and  other  philanthropists  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  for  aiding  slaves  to  obtain  their  freedom,  and  declared  that  unless 
Congress  would  act  on  the  subject,  "  Maryland  would  take  up  arms  for 
protecting  her  institutions."  These  resolutions  were  also  referred  to  the 
committee  on  the  judiciary. 

Thus  while  the  slave  States  were  piratically  importing  thirteen  thou 
sand  slaves  annually,  for  which,  by  the  laws  of  our  Government,  and  the 
general  sense  of  the  civilized  world,  they  deserved  death,  they  arro 
gantly  called  on  Congress  to  protect  them  in  holding  in  bondage 
the  slaves  thus  imported,  and  the  committee  reported  a  bill  in  favor 
of  the  capture  and  return  of  fugitive  slaves  much  more  stringent  in  its 
provisions  than  the  law  then  in  force.  But  when  it  came  up  for  con- 


FKEE   AND   SLAVE   GOVERNMENTS   OPPOSED.  77 

sideration,  northern  members  objected -to  its  passage,  for  the  reason  that 
it  suspended  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  and  in  its  whole  framework  was 
calculated  to  encourage  and  favor  the  kidnapping  of  free  colored  per. 
sons.  The  bill  was  recommitted  to  a  select  committee,  who  again 
reported  it  to  the  House  ;  and  on  further  debate,  the  real  difficulty 
in  our  Government  was  clearly  developed  to  public  view.  Slaveholders 
from  the  South  boldly  demanded  protection  for  their  slaves;  while 
the  advocates  of  liberty  from  the  North  were  equally  determined  in  -their 
demands  for  protection  to  colored  freemen  against  southern  kidnappers. 
Members  now  learned  that  every  provision  for  the  capture  and  enslave 
ment  of  fugitives  endangered  the  liberty  of  the  free  colored  population  ; 
and  that  every  act  in  favor  of  securing  liberty  to  the  free  colored  people 
operated  to  favor  the  escape  of  fugitive  bondmen.  And  the  bill  was 
laid  on  the  table,  and  no  more  brought  before  the  House  for  con 
sideration. 

The  Spanish  American  colonies  were  still  striving  for  their  inde 
pendence.  One  general  and  universal  feeling  of  hostility  to  slavery 
seemed  to  pervade  their  people,  who  had  themselves  labored  under  a 
despotism  somewhat  allied  to  slavery.  The  acknowledgment  of  their 
independence  was  now  proposed,  as  it  was  asserted  that  the  sympathy 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States  must  be  with  them.  But  southern 
statesmen  proposed  delay,  suggested  doubts.  They  argued  that  the 
revolution  might  extend  to  Cuba,  which  was  so  near  to  our  slave  States 
as  to  forbid  that  our  Government  should  permit  the  slavery  of  that 
island  to  be  abolished  ;  and  necessity  would  compel  us  to  prevent  such 
a  disaster  by  engaging  in  war  ;  or  we  must  permit  that  beautiful  island 
to  pass  into  the  possession  of  England. 

The  final  ratification  of  the  treaty  by  which  Spain  ceded  the  Floridas 
to  the  United  States  constituted  one  of  the  important  incidents  in  the 
regime  of  slavery  during  the  year  1821. 

Throughout  the  slaveholding  portion  of  the  Union  it  was  well  known 
that  the  " Maroons,"  or  "fugitive  slaves"  who  had  so  long  resided  in 
the  wilds  of  Florida  that  no  witnesses  could  identify  them,  were  exerting 
a  deleterious  influence  on  the  slaves  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Ala 
bama,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana.  The  bondsmen  of  these  States  as  well 
as  those  of  Florida  were  leaving  their  masters  and  seeking  an  asylum 
with  their  friends  who  had  long  been  resident  in  the  territory. 

The  destruction  of  Blount's  Fort  in  1816,  and  the  War  of  1818,  had 
really  effected  nothing  but  to  constrain  the  exiles  to  retire  further  to  the 
interior  of  the  country.  And  the  purchase  of  the  territory  was  urged 
by  the  people  of  the  surrounding  States,  in  order  to  save  them  from  the 


78  MAROONS    OF    FLORIDA. 

constant  annoyance  to  winch  they  were  subjected  by  the  loss  of  fugitive 
bondmen.  ' 

1822  ]  ^oon  as  ^e  Floridas  came  into  our  possession,  the  question  arose 
in  the  minds  of  the  President  and  his  Cabinet,  as  to  the  disposal 
of  these  people.  They  were  supposed  to  be  fugitives,  or  the  descendants 
of  fugitive  slaves.  But  most  of  them  had  resided  there  from  their  birth — 
indeed,  three  or  four  generations  had  passed  away  since  their  ancestors 
had  fled  from  South  Carolina,  and  it  were  now  impossible  to  identify 
any  one  as  a  slave,  or  as  the  descendant  of  a  slave.  Moreover,  the 
Spanish  crown  had  recognized  them  as  citizens  ;  had  granted  them  lands 
and  treated  them  as  subjects ;  and  their  rights  were  protected  by  the 
treaty  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  that  the  rights  of  the 
white  people  of  the  territory  were  protected  ;  and  by  no  rule  of  inter 
national  law  could  our  Government  treat  them  otherwise  than  they 
treated  the  white  inhabitants.  Yet  they  had  harbored  the  slaves  of 
Georgia,  Mississippi,  and  South  Carolina,  and  in  all  probability  would 
continue  to  do  so.  The  President,  therefore,  called  on  Mr.  Panniers, 
sub-agent  for  the  Florida  Indians,  for  his  opinion  as  to  the  disposition  to 
be  made  of  these  people.  He  replied  in  the  following  language  : 

"  It  will  be  difficult  (says  he)  to  form  a  prudent  determination  with 
respect  to  the  maroon  negroes  who  live  among  the  Indians  on  the  other 
side  of  the  little  mountain  of  Latchione.  They  fear  being  again  made 
slaves  by  the  American  Government,  and  will  omit  nothing  to  increase 
or  keep  alive  mistrust  among  the  Indians,  whom  they  in  fact  govern.  If 
it  should  become  necessary  to  use  force  with  them,  it  is  feared  the  In 
dians  will  take  their  part.  It  will,  however,  be  necessary  to  remove 
from  the  Floridas  this  group  of  freebooters,  among  whom  runaway 
negroes  will  always  find  a  refuge.  It  will,  perhaps,  be  possible  to  have 
them  received  at  St.  Domingo,  or  to  furnish  them  the  means  of  with 
drawing  from  the  United  States." 

It  had  long  been  the  evident  intention  of  the  people  of  Georgia  to 
reenslave  them.  Indeed,  as  the  reader  has  been  informed,  she  once  sent 
an  army  to  effect  that  object,  and  had  insisted  upon  the  purchase  of 
Florida  solely  for  that  purpose  ;  but  when  the  subject  came  thus  before 
the  President,  that  high  official  hesitated,  and  consulted  Mr.  Panniers, 
whose  humanity  evidently  revolted  at  the  proposition  ;  but  he  so  far 
yielded  his  sense  of  justice  to  the  interests  of  slavery,  as  to  advise  their 
removal. 

General  Jackson  was  also  called  on  to  express  his  opinion  on  the  sub 
ject.  He  had,  in  1 8 1 6,  complied  with  the  wishes  of  the  people  of  Georgia ; 
had  ordered  Blount's  Fort  to  be  destroyed,  and  the  fugitive  slaves 


MAROONS   TO   BE   REMOVED.  79 

taken  back  to  their  masters.  But  he  had  found  them  ready  to  defend 
their  liberty  with  their  lives.  He  had  fought  with  them  at  Suwanee  ; 
had  witnessed  their  courage  and  daring  ;  had  seen  his  own  disciplined 
and  gallant  army  held  at  defiance,  and  his  men  fall  before  their  deadly 
fire  on  the  battle  field  ;  he  well  understood  their  hatred  of  slavery  ; 
and  he  answered  the  inquiry  propounded  to  him,  saying,  "  These  run- 
away  slaves  spoken  of  by  Mr.  Panniers  must  be  removed  from  the  Floridas, 
or  scenes  of  murder  and  confusion  will  exist."* 

This  advice  was  adopted  as  the  policy  of  the  administration.  In 
order  to  subserve  the  interests  of  slavery,  our  treaty  with  Spain  was 
violated,  almost  as  soon  as  made,  the  rights  of  these  people  were  out 
raged,  and  the  long  and  tedious  war  which  eventually  followed,  the 
vast  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure  incurred  to  sustain  the  interests 
of  slavery  in  Florida  and  adjoining  States,  will  long  constitute  an  inter 
esting  page  in  American  history. 

Early  in  the  first  session  of  the  eighteenth  Congress,  resolu-  ,lg93 
tions  were  adopted,  calling  on  the  President  for  information 
touching  any  arrangements  which  that  high  officer  had  made  with  other 
governments  for  suppressing  the  slave  trade.  In  response,  the  Executive 
transmitted  a  mass  of  documents,  which  were  committed  to  a  select  com 
mittee,  who  reported  a  bill  to  carry  out  and  consummate  the  work  of 
abolishing  that  traffic  ;  but  it  was  neither  debated  nor  acted  upon. 

The  protection  of  the  people  of  Florida,  Georgia,  Alabama,  and 
Mississippi  against  constant  losses  by  the  exodus  of  slaves,  appears  to 
have  presented  the  most  absorbing  and  difficult  questions  for  the  consid 
eration  of  our  Government.  Thirty  years  had  now  elapsed  since  this 
burden  of  sustaining  slavery  was  assumed  by  Congress,  and  it  had  con 
stantly  become  more  and  more  onerous,  more  and  more  vexatious  and 
disgraceful  ;  but  having  engaged  in  the  work,  the  Executive  dared  not 
hesitate  or  falter  ;  and  to  carry  it  forward,  an  arrangement  with  the 
Florida  Indians  became  necessary. 

The  treaty  of  Camp  Moultrie  was  entered  into,  by  which  the  Indians 
agreed  to  remove  south  of  a  line  to  be  drawn  due  east  from  "  Tampa 
Bay."  This  greatly  contracted  their  possessions,  and  would  have 
brought  many  of  the  maroons  under  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the 
United  States,  but  the  "  Seminole  Indians"  and  "  Seminole  negroes" 
had  become  so  far  connected  by  association  and  intermarriage,  that  they 

*  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  word  "  maroons,'11  used  by  Mr.  Panniers,  was  discarded  by  General 
Jackson,  as  when  used  in  Jamaica  it  referred  to  "free  negroes  of  the  mountains,"  who  had  so  long 
maintained  their  liberty  that  they  could  not  be  identified  as  slaves,  and  General  Jackson  preferred 
to  call  the  Florida  maroons  "fugitive  slaves." 


80  SOUTH   AMERICAN   STATES. 

could  not  be  separated.  They  both  moved  south,  according  to  treaty 
stipulation.  The  United  States,  in  consideration  pf  this  removal, 
covenanted  "  to  restrain  and  prevent  all  white  persons  from  hunting, 
settling,  or  otherwise  intruding  upon  the  lands "  thus  set  apart  for  the 
use  of  the  Seminoles  :  and  the  Seminoles  also  stipulated  to  return  such 
fugitive,  slaves  as  should  flee  to  them. 

1825,  At  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  Congress,  the  President 
(John  Quincy  Adams),  in  his  annual  message,  called  the  atten 
tion  of  Congress  to  the  condition  of  Mexico,  Central  America,  and 
Columbia.  These  governments  had  achieved  their  independence,  and 
were  recognized  as  sovereign  powers.  The  President  stated  that 
they  now  proposed  to  hold  a  Congress  of  Nations  at  Panama,  and 
had  invited  our  Government  to  send  commissioners  to  meet  them,  and 
deliberate  on  such  subjects  as  would  be  consistent  with  our  mutual 
position,  and  calculated  to  advance  the  interests  of  our  people.  He 
further  stated  that  he  had  accepted  the  invitation,  and  would,  in  due 
season,  transmit  to  the  Senate  the  names  of  three  commissioners  to 
represent  us  in  the  proposed  conference  ;  and  he  soon  after  sent  the 
names  of  John  Sargeant,  William  B.  Rochester,  and  Richard  C. 
Anderson,  whom  he  nominated  to  the  Senate  for  confirmation  as  com 
missioners. 

1826  ^ie  Debate  m  that  body  was  of  course  in  secret  session,  but 

the  injunction  of  secresy  having  been  removed,  we  find  that' 
.ceaseless  vigilance  guarded  the  portals  of  slavery.  Mr.  Adams  had 
never  possessed  the  confidence  of  slaveholders,  and  this  proposition 
was  regarded  with  suspicion.  The  governments  referred  to  had  adopted 
the  primal  truths  enunciated  in  our  Declaration  of  Independence,  as  the 
vitalizing  principles  on  which  they  founded  their  hopes  and  expectations 
and  southern  statesmen  feared  that  the  independence  of  Hayti,  of  Porto 
Rico,  and  of  Cuba,  might  come  under  consideration,  and  the  means  of 
freeing  them  from  foreign  rule  might  be  considered  in  the  proposed  Con 
gress  ;  and,  if  once  free  from  foreign  rule,  the  abolition  of  slavery  would 
follow,  and  the  moral  influence  of  liberty  in  those  islands  would  prove 
injurious  to  the  slave  interest  in  our  own  States. 

The  liberation  of  Cuban  slaves  was  denounced  by  slaveholders  as  alto 
gether  destructive  to  the  slave  States,  and  the  man  who  could  coolly 
look  upon  emancipation  in  that  island,  they  asserted,  "must  be  an  incen 
diary,  a  fanatic,  and  TRAITOR  to  our  institutions."  Never  was  slavehold- 
ing  arrogance  more  offensively  displayed  than  in  this  debate.  It  was 
contended  that  the  independence  of  Cuba  was  not  to  be  thought  pf, 
while  our  southern  States  should  see  fit  to  hold  slaves.  That  during  the 


THEIR   DEVOTION   TO    LIBERTY    DENOUNCED.  81 

existence  of  the  institution  in  the  southern  States,  the  people  of  the 
other  members  of  the  Confederacy  must  conform  to  that  condition  of 
things.  They  now  urged  that  the  commercial  interests  of  New  England 
and  New  York  had  been  surrendered,  in  order  that  southern  slaves  might 
be  protected  from  the  moral  influence  of  emancipation  in  Hayti,  and 
they  extolled  the  gracefulness  with  which  northern  men  had  surrendered 
the  interests  of  freedom  that  slavery  might  thrive.  But  they  charged 
the  South  American  States  with  holding  the  doctrine  that  "  all  men, 
black  and  white,  were  endowed  with  an  imprescriptible  right  to  enjoy  life 
and  liberty,"  and  they  urged  that  we  could  not  hold  intercourse  with 
them,  without  in  some  degree  being  affected  by  their  doctrines.  These 
advocates  of  slavery  denounced  Wilberforce  and  Clarkson  and  other 
English  philanthropists  as  "visionary  theorists,"  and  asserted  that 
English  statesmen  now  discarded  the  doctrines  of  human  rights  as  set 
forth  by  European  publicists.  They  asserted  that  our  own  statesmen 
no  longer  held  the  doctrines  enunciated  in  our  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence  ;  and  assumed  that  northern  statesmen  now  acknowledged  the 
obligation  of  our  Government  to  sustain  slavery.  The  President,  Mr. 
Adams,  was  personally  assailed  and  bitterly  denounced.  Mr.  Clay,  then 
Secretary  of  State,  did  not  escape  reproof,  though  he  was  himself  a 
elaveholder.*  Mr.  Sargeant,  one  of  the  commissioners  nominated,  was 
declared  to  be  an  abolitionist,  who  had  manifested  his  hostility  to  slavery 
by  opposing  its  existence  in  Missouri.  The  debate  continued  until  twelve 
o'clock  at  night,  when  the  vote  was  taken  on  approving  the  nominations 
of  Messrs.  Sargeant,  Rochester,  and  Anderson,  as  commissioners  to 
attend  the  Congress  of  Panama,  and  stood  28  in  the  affirmative  to  16 
in  the  negative.  Messrs.  Bentonf  and  Barton,  of  Missouri ;  Clayton 
and  Vandyke,  of  Delaware  ;  Johnson,  of  Kentucky  ;  Floyd  and  Smith, 
of  Maryland  ;  and  Bouligney,  of  Louisiana,  voting  with  Senators  from 
the  free  States  ;  while  Messrs.  Holmes  and  Chandler,  of  Maine,  and 
Yan  Buren,  of  New  York,  voted  with  the  slaveholders. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  a  resolution  was  offered  calling  on 


•  It  was  the  severity  of  Mr.  Randolph's  strictures  upon  the  personal  and  political  character  of 
Mr.  Clay,  during  this  debate,  which  called  forth  the  challenge  to  mortal  combat  which  took  place 
between  those  gentlemen  in  April,  A.D.  1826. 

t  It  is  a  somewhat  singular  fact,  that  while  our  Congressional  annals  show  Mr.  Benton  to  hare 
roted  in  favor  of  the  confirmation  of  the  three  commissioners,  he  represents  himself  as  voting 
against  that  proposition,  and  speaks  of  only  two  commissioners,  Messrs.  Sargeant  and  Anderson. 
Vide  "Thirty  Years  in  the  Senate,"  page  62,  vol.  i.  It  was  during  this  debate  that  Mr.  Benton  first 
avowed  his  own  conviction  that  our  Governmental  policy  had  been  established  in  favor  of  the  slave 
interest ;  that  it  could  not  and  ought  not  to  be  changed  or  altered  ;  a  conviction  which  the  author 
had  reason  to  know  continued  during  his  life.  Indeed,  uncompromising  adherence  to  early  convic 
tions  characterised  the  whole  life  of  that  statesman,  and  gave  direction  to  ;•.;!  his  political  conduct. 

6 


82  THEIR    DOCTKINES    COMMENDED. 

the  Executive  for  such  correspondence  as  may  have  been  had  between 
our  Government  and  the  Republics  of  Colombia,  Central  America,  and 
Mexico.  On  this  resolution  a  long  debate  arose.  But  while  southern 
representatives  exhibited  the  same  arrogant  spirit  which  had  been  mani 
fested  in  the  Senate,  it  is  due  to  the  members  from  the  North  to  say 
that  the  rights  of  freemen,  the  doctrines  of  the  Constitution,  and 
the  interests  of  the  free  States,  w^re  far  more  ably  supported  than  in 
the  Senate. 

It  was  during  this  debate  that  Mr.  Miner,  of  Pennsylvania,  made  his 
debut  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  He  offered  a  resolution  declar 
ing  "sympathy  with  those  republics,  inasmuch  as  they  had  adopted  the 
.equal  rights  of  mankind  as  the  basis  of  their  several  organizations."*  Hon. 
Silas  Wood,  of  New  York,  also  ably  sustained  the  resolution  of  Mr. 
Miner,  which  was  rejected,  while  that  calling  for  the  correspondence 
was  adopted  by  a  large  majority. 

The  subject  was  again  debated  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on 
the  bill  making  appropriations  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  mission,  and 
occupied  the  attention  of  that  body  some  three  weeks,  during  which 
time  no  new  arguments  were  elicited  ;  yet  the  report  occupies  more  than 
120  pages  in  our  Congressional  documents.  In  this  debate  many  indi 
viduals  participated,  who  subsequently  became  distinguished  statesmen 
in  our  nation.  In  the  report  of  the  speeches  delivered  on  that  subject  we 
have  some  of  the  finest  specimens  of  rhetoric,  and  the  best  illustrations 
of  character,  to  be  met  with  in  our  Congressional  archives.  Yet  this 
contest  resulted  in  agreeing  to  the  proposed  mission,  with  no  other 
advantages  arising  from  it  than  a  further  development  of  the  arrogance 
and  policy  of  the  slave-power. 

1827-|  The  long-pending  controversy  between  our  Government  and 
that  of  Great  Britain  respecting  deported  slaves,  or  those  colored 
persons  who  were  carried  from  the  United  States  at  the  termination  of 
the  War  of  1812,  was  brought  to  a  close  during  the  year  to  which 
we  are  referring.  By  the  award  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  the  Execu 
tive  obtained  more  than  $1,200,000  as  a  compensation  for  those 
persons  whose  slaves  were  carried  away  at  the  close  of  that  war, 
while  no  indemnity  was  either  asked  or  obtained  for  those  persons  in 

*  The  introduction  of  this  resolution  is  believed  to  hare  constituted  the  first  distinct  proposition 
offered  in  Congress,  reiterating  the  sentiment  in  favor  of  liberty  which  inspired  the  patriots  of  1776. 
Other  members  had  expressed  these  sentiments,  and  had  given  evidence  of  having  cherished  them, 
but  none  had  presented  propositions  declaring  them  national.  Mr.  Miner  may  truly  be  said  to 
have  commenced  the  work  of  reforming  our  Government  when  he  presented  this  resolution — a 
work  which  he  continued  to  prosecute  while  he  remained  in  Congress — and  may  properly  be  regarded 
as  leading  in  the  great  reformation  which,  after  many  yeare  of  strife,  finally  resulted  in  freeing  the 
people  from  the  crimes  of  slavery. 


A   CITIZEN   OF   NEW   YORK   ENSLAVED.  83 

our  northern  States  who  were  rendered  bankrupt  by  the  burning 
of  their  buildings  and  their  goods  by  the  enemy.  Nor  was  such  in 
demnity  demanded  for  those  whose  sons,  brothers,  or  fathers  had  been 
slain  in  battle.  Indeed,  the  more  we  examine  the  records  of  that  day, 
the  more  clearly  do  we  see  that  slavery  was  held  by  those  in  power  to 
be  above,  and  to  be  sustained,  if  necessary,  at  the  expense  of  all  other 
interests. 

But,  as  if  to  test  the  forbearance  of  the  northern  people,  a  colored 
man,  named  Gilbert  Horton,  a  respectable  citizen  of  West  Chester 
County,  New  York,  while  on  business  in  Washington  City,  demeaning 
himself  peacefully,  was  seized^  and  imprisoned  under  pretence  that  he  was 
suspected  of  being  a  fugitive  slave.  Unable  at  the  moment  to  show  him 
self  a  freeman,  he  was  held  in  prison,  and  advertised  to  be  sold  in  pay 
ment  of  his  jail  fees — not  that  he  was  unable  to  pay  them  himself,  but 
because  the  laws  in  force  there  were  intended  to  enslave  all  colored  per 
sons  who  should  fail  to  prove  their  freedom  ;  and  this  law  was  sustained 
and  kept  in  force  by  Congress  at  the  dictation  of  slaveholders,  who  in 
sisted  that  the  interests  of  slavery  demanded  its  continuance.  This 
advertising  a  free  and  respectable  citizen  of  New  York  for  sale  as  a 
slave  at  our  national  metropolis,  under  and  in  pursuance  of  an  act  of 
Congress,  excited  great  indignation  among  the  people  of  that  State. 
Early  in  the  following  session,  Mr.  Ward,  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  presented  a  resolution  directing  the  Committee  on  the  District  of 
Columbia  to  inquire  whether  any  law  was  in  force  therein  authorizing 
the  imprisonment  and  sale  of  free  colored  citizens  of  the  United  States  ? 

Mr.  Ward  declared  that  he  could  not  believe  any  law  had  existence, 
either  in  the  District  of  Columbia  or  in  any  State,  thus  violative  of  the 
Federal  Constitution.  He  had  supposed  that  the  fifth  amendment  of  the 
Constitution  meant  just  what  it  declared,  "  That  no  person  (black  or 
white)  should  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process 
of  law."  He  declared  that  such  a  law  hi  the  District  of  Columbia  must 
reflect  upon  those  members  of  Congress  who  kept  it  in  force  ;  and 
he  cautioned  southern  gentlemen  that  the  northern  people  could  hardly 
be  expected  to  capture  and  return  fugitive  slaves  while  northern  freemen 
were  thus  captured  and  enslaved. 

Mr.  Forsyth,  of  Georgia,  attempted  to  ridicule  the  feeling  expressed 
by  Mr.  Ward,  declaring  that  that  gentleman  might  find  the  same  senti 
ments  expressed  in  some  ballad,  entitled,  "  The  Sun- Stricken  Outcasts 
of  Africa,"  in  the  "  della  crusca  album  of  some  boarding-school  miss." 

Mr.  Letcher,  of  Kentucky,  thought  that  no  such  law  existed  in  the 
District ;  but  Mr.  Dorsey,  of  Maryland,  assured  him  there  was  such  a 


ENSLAVEMENT   OF   FBEEMEN   EXPOSED. 

law — that  it  had  been  enacted  in  1715 — and  he  proceeded  to  give  a  con 
cise  history  of  the  legislation  on  this  subject  up  to  the  organization  of 
the  District,  assuring  the  House  that  the  law  had  remained,  and  was  re- 
enacted  by  Congress,  in  1801,  substantially  as  it  had  existed  from  1115. 

The  debate  now  assumed  a  serious  character.  Southern  members  de 
clared  that  colored  persons  were  not  "  citizens  "  under  the  Federal  Consti 
tution,  and  repeated  the  arguments  advanced  by  them  on  the  admission 
of  Missouri.  Northern  members  did  not  meet  this  pom  I  with  the  ability 
manifested  six  years  previously  ;  but  they  declared  the  enslavement  of 
persons,  whether  colored  or  white,  to  be  barbarous  and  inhuman. 

Mr.  Miner,  of  Pennsylvania,  asserted  that  the  facts  were  too  important 
to  be  treated  lightly  ;  and  he  proceeded  to  show  that,  in  1824,  there 
were  committed  to  the  jail  in  Washington  City  fifty-two  persons  suspected 
of  being  runaway  slaves,  and  eighty-one  colored  persons  committed  by 
their  supposed  masters  for  safe-keeping  ;  that,  during  the  following  year, 
fifty-eight  persons  were  committed  on  suspicion  of  being  runaway  slaves, 
and  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  were  committed  by  their  supposed 
owners  for  safe  keeping  ;  that,  of  the  one  hundred  and  ten  runaways, 
fifteen  had  proven  themselves  FREE,  paid  the  expenses  of  their  imprison 
ment,  and  were  discharged,  three  of  those  who  were  FREE  had  been  unable 
to  pay  expenses,  and  were  sold  into  slavery,*  and  the  two  hundred  and  five 
imprisoned  by  their  masters  were  sold  probably  to  the  southern  States. 
He  asserted  that  the  jail,  built  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States,  was 
extensively  used  for  the  purposes  of  the  domestic  slave  trade.  He  had 
himself  visited  the  prison,  and  seen  the  victims  of  this  infamous  traffic. 
One  woman,  who  was  the  mother  of  nine  children,  had  seen  the  six 
oldest  sold  from  her  as  they  arrived  at  an  age  to  command  good  prices  ; 
and,  at  last,  she  was  herself,  with  the  three  youngest,  imprisoned  for  the 
southern  market,  under  the  laws  adopted  and  kept  in  force  by  Congress: 
and  those  imprisoned  in  the  public  jail  constituted  a  very  small  propor 
tion  of  the  victims  who  were  imprisoned  and  sold  in  the  city,  as,  in  various 
parts  of  it,  prisons  were  used  for  the  traffic  by  the  various  dealers 
in  human  flesh,  who  pursued  their  accursed  vocation  under  protection  of 
Congressional  enactment. 

Southern  members  regretted  the  language  used  by  Mr.  Miner,  but  no 
one  denied  his  facts  or  his  doctrines,  and  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Ward  was 
adopted  by  a  large  majority. 

Fifteen  days  subsequently,  Mr.  Powel,  from  the  committee,  reported  a 

*  This  is  perhaps  the  only  official  record  of  the  enslavement  of  free  persons  under  the  authority 
if  Congress,  but  the  records  of  the  Government  lead  us  to  believe  that  thousands  of  free  persona 
In  the  United  States  were  seized  and  enslaved  under  authority  of  Congressional  enactments. 


PROPERTY    IN    HUMAN   FLESH.  85 

bill  requiring  the  corporation  in  which  any  colored  person  should  be 
arrested  under  suspicion  of  being  a  fugitive  to  pay  the  costs,  if  the  persoa 
so  arrested  proved  to  be  free,  and  repealing  the  law. of  Maryland  which 
had  been  enacted  one  hundred  and  ten  years  previously.  The  bill  wag 
committed  to  a  committee  of  the  whole  House,  but  was  no  more  heard 
of ;  and  the  slave  trade,  with  its  attendant  crimes,  continued  to  disgrace 
the  men,  the  city,  and  the  nation  that  sustained  it. 

At  the  time  to  which  we  now  refer,  all  the  slave  States,  by 
their  constitutions  and  laws,  declared  slaves  to  be  property.  Their 
people  and  statesmen  were  educated  in  the  conviction  that  human  gov 
ernments  possessed  legitimate  powers  to  transform  men  created  in  the 
image  of  God  into  chattels. 

The  free  States,  in  all  their  constitutions,  laws,  and  in  the  education  of 
their  people,  inculcated  the  doctrine  that  human  beings  were  clearly  dis 
tinguished  from  the  brute  creation,  both  in  phyiscal  form  and  mental  ex 
istence  ;  that  the  line  of  demarkation  drawn  by  the  Creator  between 
men  and  things  was  so  distinct,  so  wide,  so  deep,  that  human  governments 
could  not  obliterate  it.  From  the  commencement  of  the  Government, 
slaveholders  had  manifested  a  dissatisfaction  with  this  doctrine,  univer 
sally  adhered  to  by  the  Christian  world,  and  constituting  the  basis  of  all 
free  governments.  They  determined  that  Congress  should  recognize  the 
authority  of  the  slave  States  to  change  the  status  of  Africans,  to  trans 
form  them  into  property,  and  for  that  purpose  presented  the  following 
case  : 

In  December,  1814,  while  the  British  forces  were  approaching  New 
Orleans,  General  Jackson,  commander  of  the  American  army,  ordered 
the  impressment  of  horses,  carts  and  slaves,  for  the  erection  of  defensive, 
works  to  protect  the  city.  A  horse,  cart  and  slave  of  the  claimant, 
Marigney  D'Autrieve,  was  impressed,  and  while  employed  in  erecting 
batteries  the  slave  was  wounded,  the  horse  killed  and  the  cart  destroyed 
by  the  cannon  shot  of  the  enemy,  and  the  owner  presented  his  memorial 
to  Congress  for  indemnity.  The  Committee  on  Claims  reported  a  bill 
giving  compensation  for  the  horse  and  cart,  but  in  their  report  which  ac 
companied  the  bill,  they  stated  that  "  the  Government  had  not  regarded 
slaves  as  property,  nor  paid  for  them  when  lost  in  the  public  service.'' 

When  the  bill  came  up  for  consideration  in  committee  of  the  whole 
House,  Mr.  Livingston,  of  Louisiana,  moved  an  amendment  granting 
compensation  for  the  loss  of  the  negro's  services  while  confined  by  his 
wound,  and  for  expenses  in  doctoring  and  nursing  him. 

Thus  was  tlfe  claim  of  indemnity  for  the  loss  of  the  slave's  labor  fairly 
presented  by  one  of  the  learned  and  influential  members  from  the  slave 


86  THE   ISSUE   FORMED. 

States.  He  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  jurists  of  the  nation.  Bora 
and  educated  in  New  York,  he  selected  New  Orleans  as  his  residence, 
and  now,  holding  a  seat  in  Congress,  he  wielded  an  influence  over  both 
slave  and  free  States.  He  spoke  boldly  and  directly  to  the  point,  de 
claring  the  question  vital  to  the  existence  of  the  slave  States  ;  said  he 
could  not  beliave  the  committee  intended  to  establish  the  doctrine  that 
slaves  "  were  not  property."  He  then  maintained  by  historical  facts,  that 
the  institution  existed  prior  to  the  Constitution  ;  that  all  the  States  save 
one  or  two  treated  slaves  as  property,  and  all  of  the  present  slave  States 
declared  them  such  by  their  laws  ;  that  the  Constitution  gave  no  au 
thority  for  the  Federal  Government  to  interfere  with  them  in  any  man 
ner,  the  States  holding  them  independently  of  the  Federal  Government, 
as  legal  property.  If  taken  for  the  public  use  they  must  be  paid  for. 
The  committee  (said  he)  assert  "  they  are  not  property."  What  are 
they  then  ?  If  they  are  not  our  property,  we  have  no  right  to  their 
services,  and  they  are  legally  free.  He  then  maintained  the  sovereignty 
of  the  States  and  the  sacredness  of  State  rights,  and  concluded  by  an 
expression  of  his  confidence  that  the  amendment  would  be  adopted. 

Fortunately  for  our  institutions,  and  for  the  cause  of  humanity,  there 
were  members  of  that  body  who  had  associated  with  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution,  had  caught  the  spirit  and  retained  something  of  the  patri 
otism  of  that  heroic  age — men  who  were  contemporaries  of  Madison,  and 
recollected  the  memorable  words  of  that  great  statesman,  when  in  con 
vention  he  declared  "  it  would  be  wrong  to  admit  in  the  Constitution, 
that  man  can  hold  property  in  man." 

Much  interest  was  felt,  and  some  anxiety  was  manifested  in  various 
parts  of  the  House,  as. members  came  to  reflect  upon  the  importance  of 
the  question  presented. 

Mr.  Whittlesey,  of  Ohio,  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Claims,  had 
reported  the  bill,  and  he  was  now  expected  to  defend  it  and  to  vindicate 
the  action  of  the  committee.  He,  too,  was  a  lawyer  of  some  reputation, 
a  man  of  facts  and  figures  rather  than  a  rhetorician.  He  possessed  an 
indomitable  industry,  which  had,  even  at  that  day,  given  him  an  influ 
ence,  particularly  in  the  department  of  private  claims.  Possessing  great 
integrity  of  character,  he  was  at  all  times  unassuming,  and  had  never  as 
pired  to  the  position  of  a  "  speaking  member."  But  with  him  duty  wag 
imperative,  and  he  did  not  falter  in  meeting  the  distinguished  gentleman 
who  moved  the  amendment.  He  spoke  like  a  lawyer  who  had  prepared 
his  case  for  hearing.  Avoiding  all  reference  to  fundamental  principles, 
he  applied  himself  to  the  law  of  the  case.  He  gave  a  succinct  history  of 
every  claim  for  the  loss  of  slaves  that  had  come  before  the  committee 


THE   QUESTION   ARGUED.  87 

since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  lie  cited  every  report  that  had 
been  made,  either  in  print  or  in  manuscript,  and  showed  that  one  rule 
had  governed  them,  and  that  was  a  rule  of  constant  and  undeviating  re 
jection  of  every  claim  for  slaves  or  for  the  labor  of  slaves,  although  lost 
in  the  public  service.  He  stated  that  the  question  had  been  presented 
to  the  House  only  once  since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  ;  that  was 
in  1816,  when  considering  a  bill  to  indemnify  persons  for  property  lost  in 
the  public  service  ;  a  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  had  then  moved 
an  amendment  authorizing  payment  for  slaves,  but  the  proposition  had 
been  rejeated  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 

It  now  became  evident  that  if  the  amendment  of  Mr.  Livingston  were 
adopted,  the  past  construction  of  the  Constitution  must  be  overturned, 
and  it  was  clearly  seen  that  serious  work  was  before  the  House.  But 
Mr.  Whittlesey  was  sustained  by  Mr.  McCoy,  a  slaveholder  of  Virginia, 
also  a  member  of  the  committee,  the  only  man  who  spoke  against  the 
amendment  attempted  in  1816.  It  was  also  known  that  Mr.  Williams, 
of  North  Carolina,  a  man  of  great  experience,  and  chairman  of  the  com 
mittee,  also  concurred  in  the  report.  These  circumstances  added  much 
weight  to  the  argument  of  Mr.  Whittlesey. 

But,  nothing  daunted  by  these  considerations,  slaveholdiug  members, 
with  apparent  confidence,  asserted  the  former  practice  of  the  House  to 
have  been  wrong  and  unjust.  All  nations  had  held  slaves,  even  the 
chosen  people  of  God  had  set  the  example.  All  had  regarded  them  as 
"property :"  the  people  of  the  slave  States  regarded  them  as  property, 
and  they  insisted  that  it  was  unjust  for  the  Federal  Government  to  inter 
fere  with  the  institution  in  any  manner.  They  asserted  that  the  States 
would  not  permit  their  institution  to  be  broken  down  in  that  way.  They 
denounced  northern  members  for  agitating  the  question  of  property  in 
slaves  ;  said  it  was  a  delicate  question,  that  ought  not  to  be  debated. 
The  Constitution  had  given  the  Federal  Government  no  authority  to  in 
terfere  with  it.  On  the  contrary,  it  had  recognized  the  institution,  had 
given  it  a  representation  in  Congress,  had  authorized  the  slave  trade 
for  twenty  years,  and  by  the  treaty  of  Ghent  we  had  covenanted  with 
England  that  in  withdrawing  her  army  from  the  United  States,  they 
should  "not  carry  away  any  negroes  or  other  property  of  the  inhab 
itants." 

To  these  arguments  it  was  replied  that  the  Scriptures  scarcely  men 
tioned  the  term  "slave,"  even  historically.  They  spoke  of  "servants," 
and  those  were  white  persons  ;  that  no  such  institution  as  African  slavery 
was  known  to  the  Jews.  It  was  true,  however,  that  Rome  and  Greece, 
and  other  ancient  governments,  in  the  darker  and  more  barbarous  ages, 


88  THE   DOCTRINE    UNCONSTITUTIONAL. 

held  slaves  ;  and  as  a  just  retribution  for  such  violation  of  the  natural 
law,  they  had  disappeared  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  such  must  and 
would  be  the  case  with  every  other  nation  that  should  follow  their  exam 
ples.  Modern  civilization  discarded  the  institution  as  a  relic  of  barbar 
ism.  Philosophers  and  Christians  held  that  the  Divine  Will  constituted 
the  law  of  nature,  by  which  every  human  soul  was  entitled  to  live,  and  to 
so  much  liberty  as  was  necessary  to  cherish,  support  and  defend  his  own 
personal  existence  ;  that  the  slave  States  and  free  States  united  in  de 
claring  that  doctrine  to  be  the  very  basis  of  the  Union,  of  the  Federal 
Government,  in  which  all  were  equally  interested.  That,  maintaining 
this  doctrine,  the  Constitution,  referring  to  slaves,  had  recognized  them  as 
persons,  and  not  as  property.  Then,  as  southern  gentlemen  had  said, 
slaves  entered  into  the  enumeration  constituting  the  basis  of  representa 
tion,  but  they  were  in  that  very  clause  referred  to  as  "other persons," 
placed  in  the  same  category  with  their  masters,  but  in  no  instance  did 
the  Constitution  refer  to  them  as  "property."  Indeed,  at  the  framing  of 
that  instrument,  Mr.  Madison  said  it  would  be  wrong  to  admit  that 
"men  can  hold  property  in  men,"  and  not  a  member  dissented  from  the 
proposition  : 

That  history  and  the  language  of  the  Constitution  showed  that  a  gen 
eral  aversion  to  the  slave  trade  existed  at  the  time  of  framing  that  instru 
ment,  and  that  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  demanded  protection  against 
any  prohibition  of  it  for  twenty  years,  on  account  of  the  detestation  in 
which  it  was  held  by  all  Christian  nations.  Therein  our  fathers  erred. 
They  should  never  have  protected  that  infamous  traffic  against  the  dic 
tates  of  justice  for  one  hour.  They  should  have  prohibited,  or  at  least 
they  should  have  left  it  unprotected  and  permitted  it  to  fall  in  the  ordi 
nary  manner,  before  the  advancement  of  Christian  civilization.  As  to 
the  justice  of  this  claim,  it  were  impassible  to  show  any  justice  in  paying 
the  claimant  for  the  suffering,  the  wounds,  the  death  of  another  man. 
The  negro,  while  serving  the  public,  had  received  an  injury,  had  been 
subjected  to  pain  and  suffering,  and  if  payment  be  made  to  any  one,  it 
should  certainly  be  to  him  who  suffered,  and  not  to  a  third  person,  who 
kept  clear  of  danger  when  his  country  needed  his  service.  Again,  in  the 
recent  war,  sons,  brothers,  husbands  and  fathers,  residing  in  the  free 
States,  had  contributed  their  money,  their  time,  their  lives,  in  defending 
the  Government  in  which  the  people  of  all  the  States  were  interested. 
They  had  died.  But  what  father,  or  brother,  or  wife,  or  orphan  had 
ever  demanded  compensation  ?  Yet  southern  statesmen  would  now  tax 
those  bereaved  fathers,  brothers,  widows  and  orphans,  to  pay  this  master 
for  the  loss  of  his  slave.  "  That  would  not  be  just" 


SOUTHERN   MEMBERS   EXCITED.  89 

It  was  insisted  that  General  Jackson  did  right  in  impressing  the  slaves 
at  New  Orleans.  His  proceedings  were  reported  to  the  War  Depart 
ment,  and  were  approved  by  the  President,  who  was  himself  a  slave 
holder,  and  who  exerted  more  influence  in  framing  the  Constitution  than 
any  other  member.  His  sanction  was  therefore  important.  Nor  can 
the  justice  of  General  Jackson  be  doubted  when  we  reflect  that  this  mas 
ter  and  the  people  of  New  Orleans  did  not  themselves  take  any  part  in 
the  defence. of  their  city,  but  left  that  hazardous  service  to  the  freemen 
of  other  States.  Indeed,  one  third  of  the  population  of  the  slave  States 
are  in  bondage,  and  it  were  unjust  that  freemen  should  go  South,  meet 
the  invaders  and  die  upon  the  battle-field  in  order  that  the  planters  may 
safely  and  securely  keep  their  slaves  at  work  upon  their  plantations. 
Those  laborers  were  "persons,"  oppressed,  degraded,  outraged  and 
wronged  ;  yet  they  were  persons,  possessing  hopes  of  heaven  and  fears  of 
hell,  were  capable  of  committing  crime  and  were  punished  in  all  the 
States.  To  wantonly  slay  a  slave  was  murder,  to  enslave  an  African 
on  his  own  soil  was  piracy  under  our  national  laws  : 

That  the  treaty  of  Ghent  had  stipulated  that  the  British  army  should 
not  carry  away  negroes  or  other  property  of  the  inhabitants,  but  that 
was  only  the  sense  of  the  treaty-making  power,  and  not  of  the  Govern 
ment  ;  yet  had  it  stipulated  that  they  should  not  carry  away  any  "  white 
men,"  it  would  have  had  the  same  effect  to  transform  them  into  property 
as  it  had  to  change  negroes  into  chattels. 

The  debate  had  become  earnest.  The  ablest  men  of  the  nation  en 
gaged  in  it.  The  most  breathless  attention  was  bestowed  on  every 
speaker.  A  profound  interest,  and  even  deep  solemnity  rested  on  every 
countenance,  when  suddenly  John  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  sprang  to  the 
floor.  His  effeminate  voice,  now  raised  to  its  utmost  volume,  rang 
shrilly  through  the  hall,  and  pointing  his  long  finger  towards  the  Speaker, 
he  exclaimed,  "  Lex  ita  scripta  est,  the  point  is  settled,  and  you  may  cant 
to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  We  do  not  depend  on  your  views  of 
humanity  or  religion,  and  when  you  deny  that  our  slaves  are  our  pro 
perty,  we  shall  not  be  found  in  this  hall,  we  shall  be  found  at  home  with 
arms  in  our  hands."  He  proceeded  to  lecture  southern  members  for 
consenting  to  argue  the  question,  arid  declared  it  to  be  their  true  policy 
to  hold  no  controversy  on  the  subject.  He  next  proceeded  to  an  elabo 
rate  examination  of  the  whole  subject. 

This  example  was  followed  by  other  members,  who  proclaimed  the  so 
lemn  determination  of  the  entire  South  not  to  permit  this  question  to  be 
discussed.  Perhaps  no  incident  better  illustrates  "  the  madness  of  the 
hour,"  than  the  solemn  assurance  by  Mr.  Draytou,  of  South  Carolina, 


90  VALUE   OF   THE   TJNKXST. 

that  when  this  question  should  be  agitated,  the  slave  States  would  "  con 
sider  the  value  of  the  Union"  Yet  every  member  who  preceded  him  in 
debate,  whether  from  the  North  or  from  the  South,  had  discussed  it, 
and  none  more  elaborately  than  himself. 

The  discussion  continued  two  weeks  and  was  maintained  with  great 
ability  on  both  sides.  At  length  the  question  was  taken  on  the  amend 
ment  granting  compensation  for  the  loss  of  the  slave's  service,  etc.,  and 
it  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  three  votes.  Messrs.  Ripley  and  Wright, 
of  Maine;  Barker  and  Healy,  of  New  Hampshire;  Everett,  Gorham, 
Hodges  andYarnum,  of  Massachusetts ;  Cambrelling,  Johnson,  Verplank 
and  Silas  Wood,  of  New  York;  Fry  Kremer,  Miller,  Stephens,  Souther* 
laud  and  Yanhorn,  of  Pennsylvania;  Blake  and  Irving,  of  Indiana,  voting 
with  the  slaveholders,  while  several  members  from  the  free  States  did  not 
vote.  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Vermont,  New  Jersey,  Ohio  and  Il 
linois,  were  dishonored  by  no  voice  in  favor  of  transforming  immortal  be 
ings  into  property. 

Nor  did  the  engrossment  of  the  bill  with  the  objectionable  amendment 
discourage  northern  members.  They  recollected  that  southern  represen 
tatives  had  established  slavery  in  Missouri  by  their  unyielding  firmness 
under  the  most  discouraging  circumstances,  and  they  determined  to  op 
pose  to  the  last  a  proposition  intended  to  transform  our  free  government 
into  a  slave-sustaining  oligarchy. 

The  bill  came  up  the  next  day  for  its  final  passage,  when  the  Speaker 
with  great  solemnity  propounded  the  parliamentary  question,  "  shall  this 
bill  pass  ?"  In  answer  to  this  interrogatory,  the  debate  was  resumed  with 
even  greater  earnestness  than  had  been  previously  manifested.  Young 
members  from  the  free  States,  who  had  not  previously  appeared  in  de 
bate,  now  spoke  against  the  amendment  with  consummate  ability.  This 
firmness,  this  moral  heroism,  caused  southern  members  to  hesitate.  North- 
era  members  who  had  not  possessed  sufficient  courage  to  vote  either  way, 
now  appeared  anxious  to  vote;  and  a  motion  was  made  to  recommit  the 
bill  to  a  select  committee  for  the  purpose  of  striking  out  the  amendment 
previously  inserted,  granting  compensation  for  the  loss  of  the  slave's  la 
bor  and  the  expenses  of  doctoring  and  nursing  him.  The  proposition  was 
sustained  ;  the  bill  was  recommitted  ;  the  amendment  stricken  out ;  and 
the  bill  as  it  was  originally  reported  by  Mr.  Whittlesey,  was  again  reported 
to  the  House.  It  simply  gave  D'Autrieve  compensation  for  his  horse,  cart 
and  some  firewood,  but  made  no  mention  of  the  slave,  or  of  his  labor,  or 
of  the  expense  of  doctoring  him,  and  in  this  form  it  passed  both  Houses 
of  Congress  and  became  a  law.  The  doctrine  that  human  souls  and  bodies 
may  be  transformed  into  property  was  rejected,  as  an  infidelity  unworthy 


THE   DOCTRINE   OYEKKULEB.  91 

of  a  Christian  government.  The  lovers  of  liberty  breathed  more  freely. 
They  felt  more  self-respect  when  conscious  that  they  had  merited  the  re- 
ppect  of  the  country  and  of  mankind. 

But  this  result  was  extremely  mortifying  to  southern  members.  They 
had  constantly  insisted  that  slaves  were  property  ;  and  if  they  were  to  be 
regarded  as  persons,  those  who  held  them  in  bondage  must  of  course  be 
regarded  as  oppressors  and  despots;  and  the  civilized  world  would  so 
regard  them.  In  order  to  relieve  southern  men  as  far  as  possible,  Mr. 
Hall,  of  North  Carolina,  introduced  a  resolution  instructing  the  Commit 
tee  on  the  Judiciary  to  inquire  as  to  the  propriety  of  reporting  a  bill  de 
claring  what  should  be,  and  what  should  not  be,  regarded  as  property. 
The  House  quietly  sent  the  resolution  to  the  committee,  but  they  made 
no  report,  and  the  subject  was  no  more  agitated  during  that  session. 

The  doctrine  of  property  in  mankind,  however,  was  sustained  ,-1809 
by  the  judiciary  of  that  day.  In  1819,  a  vessel  called  a  "  Vene 
zuelan  privateer"  was  fitted  out  at  Baltimore .  She  was  in  fact  a  pirate 
disguised  under  the  Venezuelan  flag.  She  captured  several  vessels  en 
gaged  in  the  slave  trade,  sailing  under  various  flags,  one  of  which  proved 
to  be  "  The  Antelope"  of  Cuba.  Taking  the  captured  slaves  on  board 
that  vessel,  she  sailed  for  our  southern  coast  in  order  to  sell  her  slaves  to 
the  planters  of  our  southern  States,  but  was  captured  by  one  of  our 
revenue  cutters  and  taken  to  Savannah  for  adjudication. 

On  landing  the  slaves  the  captors  were  compelled  to  enter  into  bonds 
for  ree'xporting  them  if  they  proved  to  be  their  property.  The  ship  and 
cargo  being  libelled  in  the  District  Court  of  Georgia,  the  Consuls  of  Spain 
and  Portugal  claimed  the  slaves  taken  from  Spanish  and  Portuguese  ships, 
not  however  as  citizens  or  subjects  of  those  governments,  but  as  the  pro 
perty  of  the  persons  who  had  brought  them  from  Africa. 

When  this  case  came  before  a  slaveholding  judge  whose  education  had 
qualified  him  for  sustaining  the  institution,  it  was  seen  and  felt  that  the 
slave  power  had  been  vigilant  in  securing  the  appointment  of  slavehold 
ers  to  fill  judicial  stations.  The  judge  of  the  District  Court  of  Georgia 
decided  that  the  slaves  were  property  belonging  to  those  who  brought  them 
from  Africa.  On  an  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
that  tribunal  affirmed  the  decision  of  the  district  judge.  The  slaves  were 
ordered  to  be  delivered  to  the  consuls  who  claimed  them  as  property;  and 
the  character  and  influence  of  our  nation  was  prostituted  to  the  base 
purpose  of  restoring  to  Spanish  and  Portuguese  "  pirates"  the  slaves  cap 
tured  and  brought  from  Africa. 

In  delivering  its  opinion,  the  court  referred  to  no  primal  truths,  nor  to 
the  essential  doctrines  of  right  and  wrong.  They  spoke  not  of  the  "Ore- 


92  SUPREME  COUKT  MAINTAIN  IT. 

ator's  will,"  "  of  natural  law,"  of  justice,  of  inalienable  rights,  of  "  phi 
losophic  principle,"  nor  of  our  national  honor.  Well  understood  doctrines 
of  Grotius,  of  Puffendorf,  of  Blackstone,  and  of  Kent,  were  ignored,  passed 
over  in  silence ;  and  the  nation  was  made  the  instrument  for  upholding 
the  slave  trade  of  other  governments,  while  our  laWs  punished  with  death 
all  Americans  found  engaged  in  it.  The  decision  created  astonishment 
among  northern  statesmen  and  jurists,  who  saw  plainly  that  the  slave 
power  had  effectually  resisted  the  progress  of  civilization,  and  subsidized 
the  judicial  branch  of  government  to  its  support. 

But  another  question  now  arose.  When  the  slaves  were  landed  in 
Georgia,  Mr.  Wilde,  a  member  of  Congress  from  that  State,  purchased  them 
and  entered  into  bonds  for  their  reexportation,  should  that  become  neces 
sary  by  the  adjudication  of  the  court. 

These  facts  being  matters  of  record,  probably  furnish  the  only  direct 
and  conclusive  proof  of  the  connection  between  members  of  the  American 
Congress  and  "pirates"  pronounced  such  by  acts  of  Congress,  and 
punishable  with  death.  But  it  is  no  part  of  the  historian's  duty  to 
speculate  upon  the  difference  of  turpitude  between  the  barbarous 
sailor  and  the  heathenish  planter  or  member  of  Congress  who  pur 
chased  the  victims  and  encouraged  the  vendor  to  bring  more  to  the 
market. 

Mr.  Wilde  now  petitioned  the  Congress,  of  which  he  was  himself  a 
member,  to  pass  a  law  cancelling  his  bond  for  exporting  the  slaves  whom 
he  had  purchased.  The  petition  was  presented  in  the  Senate  and  re 
ferred  to  a  committee,  who  reported  back  a  bill  directing  the  bond  of 
Mr.  Wilde  to  be  cancelled ;  but  they  assigned  no  reasons  for  it.  The  bill, 
however,  passed  the  Senate  without  any  record  of  yeas  and  nays,  and 
apparently  without  debate. 

When  the  bill  came  up  for  consideration  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  Mr.  Taylor,  of  New  York,  insisted  that  when  the  slaves  were  found 
to  have  been  imported  by  pirates,  they  should  have  been  set  free.  That 
to  hold  them  as  slaves  were  no  less  moral  piracy  than  to  import  them,  as , 
it  was  carrying  out  the  intention  and  consummating  the  crime  of  thosa 
pirates  who  imported  them  from  Africa.  j 

But  the  bill  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  and  became  a  law. 
And  both  the  judicial  and  legislative  branches  of  the  Federal  Government 
were  thus  prostituted  to  carrying  out  the  very  "piracy"  which  Congress 
had  proclaimed  worthy  of  death. 

From  some  cause  unknown  to  the  writer,  the  subject  of  slavery 
appears  to  have  attracted  the  attention  of  the  people  of  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia. 


GEORGIA   CLAIMS   FUGITIVES.  93 

More  than  a  thousand  citizens  of  Washington  City  petitioned     .-1S29 
Congress  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  of  the  slave  trade  in 
that  District.     The  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  and  other  citizens  of  the 
free  States  sent,  to  our  National  Legislature  memorials  praying  for  the 
same  object. 

Early  in  January,  Mr.  Miner,  of  Pennsylvania,  presented  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  a  statement,  reciting  many  facts  concerning  the  slave 
trade  then  carried  on  within  the  District,  by  way  of  preamble  to  a 
resolution  directing  the  proper  committee  to  inquire  into  the  propriety  of 
abolishing  the  institution  and  its  attendant  commerce  within  the  Dis 
trict. 

When  the  resolutions  came  up  for  consideration,  Mr.  Miner  read 
documents  showing  the  extent  to  which  the  slave  trade  was  carried  on.  in 
the  city,  and  describing  some  of  the  crimes  attending  that  traffic  so 
abhorrent  to  humanity.  He  went  much  farther  in  specifying  the  detail 
of  crimes,  and  describing  the  horrors  of  this  commerce  in  the  bodies  of 
our  fellow-men  than  Mr.  Randolph  had  done  in  1816.  The  resolution 
was  adopted  ;  but  a  slaveholding  Speaker  had  so  arranged  the  committee 
that  no  report  was  made  on  the  subject. 

Another  interesting  incident  in  the  "regime  of  slavery,"  occurred 
during  the  year  1829.  The  claims  of  Georgia  for  slaves  lost  during  the 
war  of  the  Revolution  has  been  noticed.  The  reader  will  also  recollect 
that  by  the  treaty  of  New  York,  in  1789,  and  by  that  of  Colerain,  in 
1796,  the  United  States  assumed  the  negotiation  with  the  Creek 
Indians  for  the  return  of  negroes,  who  had  long  previously  fled  to  their 
country.  They  could  not,  however,  perform  this  part  of  their  compact, 
as  the  fugitives  were  in  Florida,  living  with  the  Seminole  Indians,  over 
whom  the  Creeks  had  no  control. 

When  our  Government  obtained  possession  of  Florida,  in  1820,  the 
people  of  Georgia  became  again  clamorous  for  the  recovery  of  their 
slaves,  who  fled  from  them  forty  or  fifty  years  previously,  and  had  settled 
in  Florida  with  the  Seminole  negroes,  who  fled  from  South  Carolina  in 
1705. 

Many  of  them  were  said  to  have  been  massacred  at  "  Blount's  Fort," 
in  1816  ;  but  they  had  nearly  all  died,  leaving  offspring  whom  no  one 
co aid  identify  as  slaves  or  as  the  descendants  of  slaves.  Mr.  Calhoun, 
Secretary  of  War,  espoused  the  claims  of  Georgia,  and  by  his  efforts 
principally  the  treaty  of  "Indian  Spring"  was  negotiated  with  the 
Or  ;ks,  in  1821,  by  which  they  conveyed  to  the  United  States  (solely 
fo-  the  benefit  of  Georgia)  a  large  tract  of  their  best  lands,  supposed  to 
be  about  five  million  acres,  for  which  the  United  States  paid  them  two 


94:  GROSS    CORRUPTION    EXPOSED. 

hundred  thousand  dollars,  at  the  signing  of  the  treaty  ;  and  agreed  to 
hold  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  as  a  trust  fund,  out  of  which  to 
compensate  the  claims  which  the  planters  of  Georgia  held  for  the  slaves 
who  had  voluntarily  left  them  during  a  former  generation.  Their  num 
ber  and  value  was  to  be  ascertained  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  amount  thus  found  due  was  to  be  paid  over  to  the  mas 
ters  or  their  descendants. 

11830 1  Accordingly,  the  President  appointed  a  commissioner  to  ascer 
tain  the  sum  which  by  the  treaty  was  to  be  thus  paid  the  claim, 
ants,  and  found  it  amounted  to  $109,000,  which  was  duly  certified  and 
paid.  But  the  slaveholders  now  claimed  the  remaining  $141,000,  which 
was  supposed  still  to  remain  in  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  ;  and 
they  memorialized  Congress  for  that  purpose.  Pending  this  memorial, 
charges  of  fraud  were  made  against  the  commissioners  who  negotiated 
the  treaty,  against  the  governor  and  commissioners  of  Georgia,  and  the 
commissioner  who  had  been  appointed  to  ascertain  the  value  of  the 
claims.  President  Adams  directed  the  Attorney-General  to  examine 
the  subject  and  report  upon  the  facts. 

The  Attorney-General,  however,  did  not  extend  his  examination  to  the 
original  treaties  between  Georgia  and  the  Creeks,  which  were  said  to 
have  been  obtained  by  gross  corruption,  from  vagabond  Indians,  who 
possessed  no  authority  to  negotiate  such  treaties,  nor  in  any  way  to  bind 
the  tribe  nor  to  act  for  them.  But  he  showed  conclusively  that  the 
commissioner  appointed  by  President  Monroe  estimated  the  price  of  the 
slaves  at  from  two  to  three  times  their  real  value,  and  that  fifty  thousand 
dollars  would  cover  all  actual  claims  contemplated  by  the  treaty,  with 
out  referring  to  the  fraudulent  basis  on  which  they  were  founded. 

Notwithstanding  this  exposure,  the  slaveholders  persisted  in  their 
claims  for  the  remaining  $141,000,  which  was  apparently  retained  in  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States,  in  trust  for  the  Creek  Indians. 

But  when  the  subject  again  came  under  debate,  it  was  shown  that  the 
entire  sum  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  stipulated  by  the 
treaty,  to  be  held  as  surety  for  the  payment  of  such  sums  as  should  be 
found  due  the  slaveholders  of  Georgia,  had  been  paid  over  to  them 
immediately  upon  the  approval  of  the  treaty  ;  and  that  not  one  dollar 
of  it  now  remained  in  the  Treasury.  But  this  stupendous  fraud  involved 
high  officers  of  Government.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury^  Mr. 
Crawford,  was  himself  a  Georgian,  and  it  is  difficult  to  understand  at 
this  day  how  he  could  have  been  ignorant  of  the  real  character  of  the 
transaction.  Mr.  Calhoun  had  been  active  in  obtaining  the  treaty,  had 
exhibited  an  intense  feeling  on  the  subject,  and  as'  he  understood  the  real 


RIDICULOUS    SUBTERFUGE.  95 

character  of  the  treaties  between  Georgia  and  the  Indians,  and  knew 
that  these  slaves  had  never  been  with  the  Creeks,  we  cannot,  in  our 
minds,  exonerate  him  from  a  participation  in  this  vast  slaveholding  pecu 
lation.  Of  the  other  participants  we  have  no  time  to  speak  par 
ticularly. 

The  House  of  Representatives  being  informed  of  these  facts,  appeared 
unwilling  to  pass  the  bill  giving  the  claimants  the  $141,000  which,  until 
this  exposure,  was  supposed  to  be  in  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States; 
but  which  h4()  been  fraudulently  paid  to  the  slaveholders  of  Georgia 
eight  years  previously. 

General  Jackson  came  into  power  in  1829.  From  that  time  the 
legislation  of  Congress  was  for  many  years  controlled  by  party  discipline, 
and  whatever  the  democratic  party  approved  in  caucus  was  sustained  by 
Congress. 

In  1832  the  subject  of  this  fraud  upon  the  nation  was  again  brought 
up  and  referred  to  a  select  committee.  Mr.  Stevenson,  a  slaveholder 
from  Virginia,  being  Speaker,  appointed  Mr.  Gilmer,  of  Georgia,  chair 
man  of  the  committee.  He  made  an  elaborate  report,  in  which  he 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  claimants  were  entitled  to  the 
$141,000,  as  a  compensation  for  the  off  spring  which  the  female  slaves  would 
have  l)orne  to  their  masters  had  they  remained  in  bondage /  and  the  report 
was  accompanied  by  a  bill  for  that  purpose. 

This  shameful  excuse  for  consummating  a  disgraceful  fraud  was  pub 
lished  in  the  documentary  proceedings  of  the  day  ;  but  it  is  believed 
that  no  newspaper  informed  its  readers  of  the  character  of  this  transac 
tion.  The  bill  now  passed,  so  far  as  we  are  informed,  without  debate, 
was  sent  to  the  Senate,  and  received  the  concurrence  of  that  body,  was 
approved  by  President  Jackson,  and  became  a  law. 

Mr.  Adams  and  his  administration  had  exposed  the  character  of  these 
claims,  and  thereby  defeated  the  bill  which  was  now  approved  by  his 
successor. 


96  J.    Q.    ADAMS   IN   CONGRESS. 


CHAPTER  YI. 

THE    NATION    INVOLVED   IN    WAR   FOR   THE    SUPPORT     OF     SLAVERY AND   THE 

SENATE    ATTEMPTS   TO    CHANGE   THE  INTERNATIONAL  LAW  FOR  THE  PURPOSE 
OF  CONSTRAINING  THE  BRITISH    GOVERNMENT  TO  SUPPORT  THE  SLAVE  TRADE. 

9 

1881  ,  THE  influence  which  the  slave  States  were  exerting  upon  Con 
gress  and  the  Government  attracted  the  attention  of  the  people 
of  the  northern  portion  of  the  Union.  In  some  of  the  free  States 
"  abolition  societies"  were  formed.  Indeed,  some  of  these  organizations 
had  existed  from  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  all  were  now 
aroused  to  action,  endeavoring  to  awake  the  public  mind  to  the  crimes 
of  slavery,  and  the  fact  that  these  crimes  were  encouraged  by  the  Fed 
eral  Government. 

The  ship  "Francis  Tod,"  of  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  had  taken 
on  board,  at  Baltimore,  a  cargo  of  slaves  for  the  New  Orleans  market. 
William  L.  Garrison,  a  devoted  friend  of  liberty,  exposed  this  domestic 
piracy,  by  a  statement  of  the  facts  connected  with  the  transaction, 
in  a  newspaper  then  published  in  Baltimore.  He. was  indicted  and 
convicted  of  libel  for  thus  informing  the  public  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  slave  trade  was  sustained  and  encouraged  by  the  shipowners 
of  Massachusetts.  He  was  imprisoned  a  sufficient  time  to  give  notoriety 
to  the  fact  that  in  Baltimore  it  was  regarded  as  an  offence  to  publish 
transactions  concerning  slavery  and  the  slave  trade,  which  were  author 
ized  by  law  of  Congress. 

Petitions  for  the  abolition  of  the  coastwise  slave  trade  now  became 
so  common  that  it  would  be  unjust  to  the  reader  were  his  attention 
called  to  each  separate  memorial.  Mr.  Garrison,  who  had  invoked  public 
attention  to  that  subject,  soon  became  distinguished  as  a  reformer  ;  and 
being  sustained  by  the  philanthropists  of  New  England,  he  continued  his 
efforts  with  great  ability  and  zeal. 

Hon.  John  Quincy  Adams  appeared  in  Congress,  representing  the 
Congressional  district  in  which  he  was  born.  He  had  served  his  country 
as  a  Senator,  as  Foreign  Minister,  as  Secretary  of  State,  and  when  his 
mind  had  become  mature  and  enlarged  by  great  experience,  he  had  filled 
the  Executive  chair  with  honor  to  himself  and  the  nation,  and  he  now  en 
tered  upon  a  Congressional  career,  more  beneficial  to  his  country  than  any 
portion  of  his  previous  life. 


ME.    WEB8TEE   AVOIDS   THE   ISSUE.  97 

Early  in  the  session  he  presented  fifteen  memorials,  praying  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  He 
took  occasion  to  say,  on  presenting  these  petitions,  that  whatever  might 
be  his  opinion  of  slavery  in  tbe  abstract,  or  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  it  was  a  subject  which  he  hoped  would  not  be  discussed  in  that 
House.  If  it  should  be,  he  might,  perhaps,  assign  the  reason  why  he 
should  give  it  no  support.*  The  petitions  were  referred  to  the  committee 
on  the  District  of  Columbia.  A  few  days  afterwards,  Mr.  Dodridge, 
of  Virginia,  chairman  of  that  committee,  reported  that  it  would  be  wrong 
to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  until  Maryland  and  Vir 
ginia  should  move  on  the  subject,  and  in  no  event  would  it  be  safe  to  do 
BO  under  present  circumstances.  Of  the  slave  trade  mentioned  in  the 
memorials,  the  report  said  nothing  ;  nor  did  it  in  any  way  explain  the 
connection  between  slavery  in  the  District  under  Federal  laws,  and 
slavery  in  the  States  which  existed  under  State  laws. 

The  great  intellectual  contest  between  Messrs.  Webster  and  Hayne, 
in  the  Senate,  developed  to  the  public  view  the  existence  of  an  in 
tention  on  the  part  of  leading  southern  members  at  some  day  to  separate 
from  the  northern  States,  and  to  form  a  Southern  Confederacy.  In  that 
debate,  Mr.  Hayne  alone  referred  to  southern  slavery  as  an  object  of 
northern  hostility ;  while  Mr.  Webster,  in  general  terms,  asserted  that 
New  England  was  attached  to  the  Union,  to  South  Carolina,  and  to 
every  State  ;  and  although  that  discussion  stands  unrivalled  in  our  poli 
tical  history  for  its  logic,  its  rhetoric,  its  exhibition  of  historical  research, 
its  compactness  of  argument,  still  the  reader  rises  from  its  perusal  disap 
pointed  at  finding  two  such  intellects  grappling  with  each  other  upon  the 
powers  of  government  ;  yet  neither  apparently  daring  to  refer  to  the 
primal  doctrines  on  which  that  Government  had  been  founded. 

At  this  time  Mr.  Calhoun  stood  the  acknowledged  leader  among 
southern  statesmen,  a  position  to  which  his  talents,  his  experience,  and 
integrity  of  character  entitled-  him.  He  was  bold  and  sincere  in  the 
avowal  of  his  opinions.  He  openly  denied  that  men  were,  created  equal  in 
their  rights  to  life  and  liberty,  and  avoiding  the  doctrines  of  European 
and  American  publicists,  he  referred  to  the  necessities  of  mankind,  as  the 
basis  of  human  governments.  Assuming  slavery  to  be  necessary  in  our 
southern  States,  he  declared  it  one  of  the  essential  elements  of  southern 

*  It  ia  certain  that  when  Mr.  Adams  first  entered  Congress,  he  was  opposed  to  aff  agitation  on  the 
subject  of  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Nor  did  he  at  any  time  encourage 
auch  agitation.  The  reason  which  he  assigned  for  his  course  on  this  point  was  that  slavery  in  the 
District  was  of  little  importance  ;  while  he  admitted  that  its  existence  there  was  really  as  much  a 
violation  of  principle  as  it  was  in  tbe  States  or  Territories.  (Tbe  author  speaks  from  personal  con 
versations.) 

7 


98  CALHOUN  LEADS  THE  SLAVE  POWER. 

society  and  prosperity  ;  and  no  Senator  appeared  willing  to  form  an 
issue  with  him  on  his  avowed  infidelity  to  the  doctrines  of  our  fathers  : 
Indeed,  at  this  time,  General  Jackson  had  become  exceedingly  popular 
with  the  democratic  party  :  with  them  his  will  was  law.  He  had  been 
reared  and  educated  in  the  midst  of  slavery,  and  on  that  subject  he 
agreed  with  Mr.  Calhoun.  He  had  ever  shown  himself  devoted  to  the 
institution  ;  had  given  the  order  under  which  the  barbarous  "  massacre 
at  Blount's  Fort"  had  been  perpetrated,  in  1816,  and  had  fought  the 
exiles  of  Florida  in  the  first  Seminole  war  ;  had  subsequently  advised 
their  removal ;  and  had,  at  all  tinges,  wielded  his  influence  for  the  sup 
port  and  encouragement  of  slavery.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  with  pro 
priety,  that  in  no  official  act  of  his  life  did  he  intentionally  fail  to  act  for 
the  benefit  of  the  institution,  so  far  as  he  had  opportunity  ;  and  with 
equal  propriety  it  may  be  said  that  the  democratic  party  never  failed  to 
carry  out  his  views  to  the  extent  of  their  powers. 

These  circumstances  gave  to  the  supporters  of  slavery  full  and  almost 
undisputed  control  of  the  Government,  and  its  patronage  was  bestowed 
on  those  who  sustained  the  institution,  while  political  ostracism  awaited 
every  opponent.  Hence  politicians  and  statesmen  were  unwilling  to  place 
themselves  in  opposition  to  this  policy,  and  the  doctrines  of  freedom  were 
rendered  unpopular  with  the  American  people. 

No  public  man  now  maintained  the  principles  enunciated  in  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence.  No  one  raised  his  voice  in  support  of  those 
"self-evident  truths"  which  constituted  the  foundation  of  our  republican 
edifice.  Mr.  Adams  held  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  he 
had  at  this  time  only  avowed  his  unwillingness  to  agitate  the  question  of 
abolishing  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  an  avowal  which  gave 
great  satisfaction  to  southern  men. 

1832 ,  The  threatened  rebellion  of  South  Carolina,  which  attracted  so 
much  attention,  had  its  origin  in  slavery.  Slave  labor  is  not  less 
opposed  to  the  policy  of  free  labor,  than  oppression  is  opposed  to  justice, 
and  the  high  tariif  operated  favorably  upon  one  and  unfavorably  upon 
the  other  ;  but  instead  of  avowing  their  attachment  to  slavery  as  the 
cause  of  the  proposed  secession,  they  based  their  complaints  upon  the 
tariff,  which  operated  in  favor  of  free  labor,  while  it  served  to  depress 
slave  labor.  And  the  discussions  were  confined  to  collateral  questions, 
without  bringing  slavery  into  the  controversy. 

The  President  was  a  man  of  determined  purpose,  and  if  he  had  been 
left  to  pursue  his  own  policy,  would  probably  have  put  down  the  spirit 
of  rebellion  so  effectually  that  it  would  no  more  have  been  heard  in  our 
halls  of  legislation. 


UNFORTUNATE   COMPROMISE.  99 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Mr.  Clay,  in  the  opinion  of  his  best  friends, 
committed  the  great  error  of  his  life,  by  offering  his  bill  compromising 
the  tariff  on  which  the  quarrel  between  the  friends  of  free  and  of  slave 
labor  had  risen.  The  bill  was  passed.  Mr.  Calhoim  and  his  friends 
regarded  its  introduction  a  triumph  for  the  South,  and  a  tacit  admission 
that  southern  men  were  correct  in  their  opinions  as  to  the  right  of  seces 
sion.  The  passage  of  the  bill  confirmed  this  opinion  ;  and  although  Mr. 
Clay  at  the  time  received  much  applause  for  saving  the  Union,  yet  the 
whole  tendency  of  this  measure  was  to  promote  its  final  dissolution. 

"  The  exiles  of  Florida,"  or  negroes  who  had  fled  from  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia  and  settled  in  Florida,  had  retired  far  into  the  Peninsula, 
and  were  endeavoring  to  seclude  themselves  so  far  as  possible  from  inter 
course  with  white  men  ;  but  the  spirit  of  oppression  knows  no  limits. 
The  Indians  who  were  associated  with  the  negroes  were  called  on  to 
deliver  up  fugitive  slaves,  over  whom  they  had  no  control,  but  to  whose 
influence  they  were  themselves  subjected.  Unable  to  obtain  slaves  in 
that  way,  white  men  of  desperate  character  formed  combinations  in 
Georgia  and  in  Florida,  and,  going  upon  the  Indian  reservations,  indis 
criminately  captured  those  negroes  who  were  free  and  those  who  belonged 
to  the  Indians,  while  the  real  fugitives  were  far  beyond  their  reach.  A 
full  knowledge  of  these  barbarous  forays,  or  of  the 'banditti  who  perpe 
trated  them,  can  only  be  obtained  by  a  patient  examination  of  the  Con 
gressional  documents  of  that  day.* 

This  practice  had  continued  for  many  years,  when  the  Indians 
entered  into  the  treaty  of  "  Paynes  Landing  "  with  the  United 
States,  by  which  they  agreed  to  send  a  delegation  to  the  western  coun 
try  to  examine  it,  and  if  upon  their  report  the  tribe  should  be  satisfied, 
they  were  to  remove  to  that  country. 

The  delegation  consisted  of  four  Indians  and  two  negroes,  who,  in  ful 
fillment  of  the  treaty,  went  to  explore  the  country  under  the  direction 
and  in  company  with  commissioners  appointed  for  that  purpose.  While 
there,  the  United  States  commissioners  and  the  negro  and  Indian  dele 
gates  entered  into  a  supplemental  treaty  or  compact,  by  which  it  was 
agreed  that  the  United  States  should  set  off  to  the  Seminole  Indians  and 
"  their  allies  "  a  certain  tract  of  country  described  by  metes  and  bounds, 
separate  and  apart  from  the  territory  held  by  other  Indians. f 

*  The  author  spent  much  labor  on  this  subject,  as  early  as  1841,  and  the  result  of  those  labors  may 
yet  be  found  in  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  February  of  that  year  ;  but 
the  observations  of  many  years  were  condensed  into  a  work  entitled  "  The  Exiles  of  Florida,"  pub 
lished  in  185T. 

t  All  the  high  officers  of  Government  appeared  unwilling  that  the  public  should  understand  that 
the  "  exiles  "  or  negroes  of  Florida  were  recognized  in  this  treaty  ;  and  the  term  "  allies  "  was 
resorted  to  hi  order  to  avoid  using  that  of  "  negroes  "  or  "  colored  men." 


100  OBIGIN   OP  THE  FLOEIDA  WAB. 

^gg ,  In  this  transaction,  the  negroes  showed  themselves  the  ablest 
diplomatists,  as  it  had  been  the  avowed  intention  of  the  Admin 
istration  to  constrain  the  Seminoles  to  settle  with  the  Creeks.  For  this 
policy,  so  obstinately  maintained  for  many  years,  involving  the  nation  in 
a  long  and  bloody  war,  no  reason  was  ever  assigned  ;  nor  can  we  at  this 
day  infer  but  one  object — that  must  have  been  the  r (.enslavement  of  the, 
negroes  who  were  residing  with  the  Scminole  Indians. 

It  will  be  recollected,  that  as  early  as  1785,  the  Creeks  stipulated  by 
treaty  to  deliver  these  fugitives  to  the  people  of  Georgia  ;  and  the  claims 
of  Georgia  had  been  pressed  upon  the  Creeks  up  to  the  treaty  of  Indian 
Spring,  in  1821,  when  they  paid  $250,000  for  the  fugitives,  and  thence 
forth  claimed  them  as  their  slaves.  If  now  the  Seminoles  could  be 
induced  to  re-unite  with  the  Creeks,  they  would  bring  their  negroes  under 
Creek  laws  and  thereby  reSnslave  them. 

Of  these  objects  the  negroes  had  perfect  knowledge,  and  therefore 
stipulated  for  their  territory  to  be  holden  separate  and  apart  from  that 
of  the  Creeks.  This  arrangement  entirely  defeated  the  objects  of  the 
Administration  in  making  the  treaty.  The  chiefs  of  the  Creeks  learning 
these  facts,  earnestly  protested  against  the  Seminoles  receiving  separate 
territory  ;  and  General  Jackson,  regarding  the  objects  of  the  treaty 
defeated  by  the  arrangement,  permitted  it  to  remain  without  even  send 
ing  it  to  the  Senate  for  ratification. 

1834.]  ^ie  subJect  remained  in  this  situation  for  more  than  two  years. 
During  that  time  the  people  of  Georgia  and  of  Florida  appear 
to  have  become  impatient  at  the  delay  of  enslaving  these  people.  The 
citizens  of  Alachua  County,  Florida,  sent  a  petition  to  the  President, 
saying,  that  the  Seminole  Indians  were  harboring  fugitive  slaves,  and 
supplicating  that  high  officer  to  remove  them  to  the  western  country. 

On  reading  this  petition,  the  President  endorsed  upon  it  an  crder  to 
the  Secretary  of  War,  directing  that  officer  to  inquire  into  the  facts,  and 
if  found  true,  to  inform  the  Indians  that  they  must  prepare  to  remove  to 
the  western  country.  The  iron  will  of  Jackson  was  never  known  to 
bend  to  circumstances.  He  now  sent  the  treaty,  so  long  dormant,  to 
the  Senate  for  confirmation.  That  body,  ever  obedient  to  his  wishes, 
learning  that  slavery  was  involved,  proceeded  to  confirm  the  treaty, 
without  regard  to  the  compact  entered  into  by  the  commissioners  of  the 
United  States  while  in  the  western  country  ;  and  the  Indians  were 
informed  by  the  President  that  they  must  emigrate,  without  any  regard 
to  their  choice,  as  stipulated  in  the  treaty. 

The  negroes  were  now  constrained  literally  to  choose  between  war 
and  slavery.  They  at  once  prepared  for  war  ;  they  turned  their 
attention  to  collecting  ammunition  and  arms,  and  securing  provisions. 


OFFICIAL   OBTUSENESS DADE's   MASSACRE.  101 

Both  Indians  and  negroes  gave  unmistakable  evidence  of  approaching 
hostilities. 

In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Thompson,  Indian  Agent,  informed  the  War 
Department,  that  if  the  Seminole  negroes  emigrated  west  without  a 
territory  separate  from  the  Creeks,  they  would  be  enslaved  by  that  tribe. 
He  also  stated  explicitly  that  this  constituted  their  objection  against 
emigration. 

The  Secretary  of  War,  General  Cass,  replied  without  assigning  any 
object  for  compelling  them  to  re-unite  with  the  Creeks,  but  saying  if  they 
should  be  enslaved  "  their  condition  would  be  no  worse  than  that  of  other 
slaves."  To  this  the  agent  returned  for  answer  that  the  same  might  be 
said  of  the  Secretary  of  War  ;  "  if  he  were  enslaved,  his  condition  would 
be  no  worse  than  that  of  other  slaves." 

It  is  among  the  unpleasant  duties  of  the  historian  to  record  facts 
which  exhibit  such  moral  turpitude  in  those  who  wield  the  government 
of  his  country  ;  but  the  men  who  then  guided  the  Federal  power,  like 
all  public  men,  must  be  held  responsible  for  their  official  conduct. 

The  Maroons,  or  fugitive  slaves,  felt  the  necessity  of  giving  the 
Indians  an  exhibition  of  their  prowess.  Through  the  agency  of  one 
of  their  friends  in  bondage,  they  learned  that  Major  Dade  was  to  leave 
Fort  Brooke  on  a  certain  day  for  Fort  King,  about  one  hundred  and  thirty 
miles  distant,  through  an  unbroken  forest.  With  a  few  Indians  they 
hastened  to  intercept  their  passage,  and  the  gallant  major  and  his  bat 
talion  fell  by  the  hands  of  the  very  people  whom  General  Jackson  and 
the  Executive  were  endeavoring  to  surrender  up  to  be  enslaved  by  the 
Creek  Indians.  As  these  persecuted  people,  on  that  bloody  field,  ceased 
from  the  work  of  death,  they  raised  a  shout  of  exultation  at  having 
avenged  the  blood  of  their  friends,  who,  twenty  years  previously,  had 
been  massacred  at  "  Blount's  Fort."  And  as  that  first  Seminole  war 
had  been  commenced  by  a  massacre  of  blacks,  the  second  had  now  been 
inaugurated  by  a  far  less  barbarous  sacrifice  of  whites. 

The  enslavers  of  mankind  exhibit  the  same  general  traits  of  charac 
ter,  whether  they  pursue  their  vocation  on  African  or  American  soil. 
Those  deemed  pirates  under  our  laws  and  hanged  at  the  yard-arm  of 
some  ship-of-war,  for  capturing  and  enslaving  their  fellow-men  on  the 
African  coast,  have  never  excelled  in  the  refinements  of  cruelty  our 
Federal  Executive  during  the  first  six  years  of  this  Florida  war.  Under 
direction  and  approval  of  the  President  and  Cabinet,  our  army  captured 
and  consigned  to  interminable  slavery  more  than  five  hundred  colored 
persons  in  Florida,  at  an  expense  to  the  United  States  of  more  than 
eighty  thousand  dollars  for  each  individual  enslaved. 

In  carrying  on  this  war  upon  our  common  humanity,  parents  were 


102  CHARACTER    OF   THE   FLORIDA   WAR. 

separated  from  their  children  and  husbands  from  their  wives  ;  frauds 
were  perpetrated,  solemn  treaties  were  disregarded,  flags  of  truce  were 
violated,  the  most  solemn  covenants  repudiated,  and  men  were  merci 
lessly  butchered  because  they  preferred  liberty  to  slavery.  Yet  no 
public  officer  appeared  willing  to  expose  these  crimes,  perpetrated 
as  they  were  by  the  Government  of  which  they  were  themselves 
members.  But  it  is  due  to  truth  and  candor  to  say,  that  in  the 
whole  period  of  his  service  in  Congress,  the  author  found  no  north 
ern  member  who  understood  the  corruptions,  the  barbarities  of  that 
war  ;  and  as  he  thought,  but  few  southern  members  entertained  any 
just  conceptions  of  its  turpitude.  It  was  the  practice  of  that  day  for 
the  Executive  to  send  to  the  committee  on  finance  in  each  House  esti 
mates  of  the  expense  of  carrying  on  the  war  during  the  coming  year  ; 
and  such  amounts  were  always  appropriated  without  further  investiga 
tion.  One  of  the  consequences  resulting  from  this  mode  of  administer 
ing  the  Government,  was  a  general  deterioration  of  public  morals  ; 
frauds  and  peculations  upon  the  public  treasury  were  common  ;  and 
members  of  Congress  became  unconscious  that  moral  responsibility 
attached  to  men  in  official  station.  While  individuals  in  the  free  States 
were  endeavoring  to  awaken  the  public  conscience  to  the  iniquities  prac 
tised  by  the  administrators  of  Government,  those  in  favor  of  slavery 
proclaimed  their  necessity,  and  insisted  that  they  were  harmless. 
188g,  At  the  opening  of  the  twenty-fourth  Congress,  General  Jack 
son,  in  his  annual  message,  referred  to  the  anti-slavery  publications 
in  the  free  States,  declared  they  were  "  calculated  to  stir  up  insurrections 
and  produce  all  the  horrors  of  civil  war."  He  asserted  they  were  opposed 
to  humanity  and  religion,  and  IN  VIOLATION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  and  of 
the  compromises  on  which  the  Union  was  founded."  However  absurd 
these  ideas  may  appear,  we  cannot  disguise  the  fact  that  the  President 
was  sincere  in  their  utterance,  however  much  that  admission  may  detract 
from  his  presumed  intelligence. 

He  had,  from  the  time  of  his  first  election,  endeavored  to  reward  his 
friends  and  punish  his  enemies  in  the  distribution  of  the  Executive 
patronage.  To  obtain  his  favor,  public  men  reiterated  his  opinions  and 
eulogized  his  statesmanship.  Senators  now  responded  to  his  attack  upon 
the  anti-slavery  people  of  the  free  States. 

Mr.  Morris,  of  Ohio,  presented  several  petitions  from  that  State, 
praying  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of 
Columbia. 

Mr.  Calhoun  objected  to  their  reception,  declaring  that  Congress  had 
no  jurisdiction  of  the  subject. 

Mr.  Buchanan,  of  Pennsylvania,  spoke  of  the  philanthropists  of  the 


VIEWS   OF  BUCHANAN   AND  BENTON.  103 

iiorthern  States  as  "fanatics  ;"  declared  it  would  be  "  morally  wrong  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,"  insisted  that  the  "  Con 
stitution  had  in  the  clearest  possible  manner  recognized  the  right  of 
property  in  slaves,"  and  declared  he  "  would  do  nothing  to  disturb  that 
right."  He  did  not  explain  what  he  meant  by  the  Constitution  having 
recognized  slavery  ;  nor  did  he  define  whether  it  had  recognized  slavery 
in  any  other  sense  than  it  had  recognized  "piracy"  or  ''felony."  But 
terms  were  then  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  deception.  And  the  feel 
ing  of  hatred  which  he  manifested  towards  those  northern  Christians  and 
philanthropists,  who  were  endeavoring  to  liberate  the  slaves  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  ;  to  "  do  unto  them  as  they  would  have  others  do  to 
themselves,"  was  wholly  inexplicable,  inasmuch  as  he  himself  was  a  mem 
ber  of  a  professedly  Christian  church,  as  well  as  of  the  democratic  party, 
and  exerted  much  influence  with  his  associates  both  in  church  and 
state. 

Mr.  Benton,  of  Missouri,  was  also  a  leading  member  of  the  same 
party — an  able,  earnest  man,  industrious  in  his  habits  and  determined  in 
his  purposes.  He  was,  however,  distinguished  for  a  degree  of  self-com 
placency,  seldom  connected  with  great  moral  worth  ;  and  in  his  preju 
dices  he  was  inexorable.  He  was  said  never  to  yield  an  opinion  or  for 
give  an  enemy.  He  characterized  the  abolitionists  as  "  incendiaries," 
"  agitators,"  "  men  seeking  to  obtain  their  ends  by  diabolical  means." 

This  resort  to  declamation,  to  the  use  of  epithets,  and  denunciation 
against  the  advocates  of  liberty,  constituted  the  only  supposed  justifica 
tion  of  slavery.  This  practice  among  statesmen  exerted  great  influence 
upon  the  popular  mind.  It  created  a  general  hostility  towards  all  who 
dared  reiterate  the  undying  truths  that  slaves,  in  common  with  the 
human  family,  have  and  hold  from  the  Creator  a  right  to  life,  and 
liberty. 

But  Mr.  Leigh,  of  Virginia,  was  distinguished  for  his  reasoning 
powers.  Indeed,  he  was  regarded  as  an  exponent  of  what  was  then 
called  " 'Virginia  abstractions."  Unwilling  to  use  epithets  and  denuncia 
tions,  he  endeavored  to  place  the  subject  before  the  country  in  a  logical 
form,  asserting — 

"  Firstly.  Congress  has  no  more  power  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  than  the  Legislatures  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  from 
which  the  District  was  taken,  have  to  abolish  it  in  those  States. 

"Second.  As  slaves  are  property,  the  Legislatures  of  those  States  have 
no  right  to  abolish  the  master's  title  by  which  he  holds  them.  There 
fore,  Congress  can  have  no  authority  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia." 


104:  STATESMEN   OBLIVIOUS   TO   PKIMAL  TRUTHS. 

The  debate  occupied  the  Senate  during  the  morning  hour  for  more 
than  two  months,  and  no  Senator  from  the  free  States,  during  that  pro 
tracted  discussion,  asserted  or  reiterated  the  truth  that  "  men  hold  their 
right  to  life  and  liberty  from  the  Creator."  No  one  denied  the  legitimate 
power  of  human  governments  to  enslave  and  murder  innocent  persons. 
No  Senator  denied  the  legitimate  powers  of  Congress  to  authorize  one 
class  of  men  to  hold,  flog,  abuse,  and  murder  another  portion  of  the 
human  family.  N"o  one  denied  that  the  will  of  Congress  and  the  Presi 
dent  expressed  in  the  form  of  a  statute  would  impose  upon  innocent 
persons  a  moral  olligation  to  submit  to  be  held,  flogged,  enslaved,  and 
murdered.  The  elementary  principles  of  government,  as  taught  by  phi 
losophers,  by  publicists,  by  jurists,  in  both  Europe  and  America,  seemed 
to  be  forgotten.  But  on  taking  the  vote,  a  large  majority  was  found  to 
be  in  favor  of  receiving  the  petitions. 

The  political  partisans  of  the  House  of  Representatives  were  not 
behind  those  of  the  Senate  in  their  efforts  to  attach  opprobrium  to  all 
who  insisted  that  justice  was  equally  due  to  all  men.  They  spoke  with 
great  contempt  of  those  who  believed  that  all  men  were  equally  entitled 
to  live,  to  protect  and  cherish  life.  These  efforts  in  Congress  having 
been  constant  and  long  continued,  necessarily  affected  the  popular  mind 
of  the  North  as  well  as  of  the  South.  Men  were  educated  to  believe  that 
slavery  was  just  and  proper  ;  that  Congress  and  the  Federal  Government 
were  bound  by  the  Constitution  to  support  it,  and  they  now  looked  upon 
all  who  denied  these  propositions  as  uninformed,  ignorant,  and  bigoted. 
The  popular  mind  was  directed  to  the  theory  that  slavery  had  been  in 
stituted  by  Deity,  and  was  to  be  sustained  and  cherished  as  an  institution 
of  heaven,  and  those  who  opposed  it  were  characterized  as  ''fanatics" 
and  "infidels."  The  advocates  of  oppression  admitted  that  many  evils 
were  attendant  on  slavery,  and  that  God  would  do  it  away  in  His  own 
good  time  ;  but  they  proclaimed — "  He  will  smite  those  who  put  forth 
their  hand  to  steady  this  ark  of  His  Providence." 
1886  .j  In  the  House  of  Representatives  memorials  were  also  presented, 
praying  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia.  Yet  no  member  of  that  body  advocated  the  proposed 
measure.  The  highest  ground  assumed  by  any  one  was  that  the  petitions 
should  be  received  and  respectfully  referred  to  the  appropriate  com 
mittees. 

Southern  members  insisted  that  they  should  be  rejected  without 
debate ;  that  they  should  not  even  be  read  ;  but  treated  with  that 
detestation  which  was  due  to  men  who  would  endanger  the  Union  by 
sending  such  memorials  to  Congress. 


105 

The  subject  was  referred  to  a  select  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Pinck- 
ney,  of  South  Carolina,  was  chairman.  He  reported  three  resolutions, 
the  first  of  which  asserted  that  Congress  possessed  no  constitutional 
power  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States. 

The  second  declared  it  would  be  wrong  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia. 

The  third  declared  that  all  petitions  and  papers  relating  to  slavery 
should  be  laid  on  the  table  without  debate. 

The  committee  had  been  selected  by  a  democratic  Speaker.  A  major 
ity  of  members  belonged  to  that  party,  and  looked  upon  this  movement 
as  calculated  to  give  eclat  to  that  organization.  They  were  unwilling  to 
be  surpassed  in  their  support  of  slavery.  Southern  Whigs  objected  to 
this  report  as  too  tame.  Mr.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  led  off  in  behalf  of 
Whig  slaveholders.  He  was  comparatively  a  young  member.  To  say 
he  was  impulsive,  would  do  injustice  to  that  unpremeditated  vehemence 
which  characterized  his  action  in  Congress.  He  possessed  a  rich  imagi 
nation,  which  seemed  to  lead  him  captive  without  the  ordinary  restrain 
ing  influences  of  judgment.  He  sought  to  raise  himself  to  distinction, 
not  by  his  own  moral  excellence,  but  by  the  exposure  of  the  errors  which 
his  opponents  cherished. 

He  denounced  the  resolutions  as  tame,  inefficient,  and  of  no  possible 
utility  ;  said  they  tacitly  admitted  that  Congress  had  the  power  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  which  he  solemnly  and 
peremptorily  denied. 

The  resolutions,  however,  were  adopted  ;  and  the  right  of  petition 
was  suppressed  in  the  House  of  Representatives  for  that  time. 

Mr.  Calhoun  now  attempted  to  carry  that  despotism  which  always 
attends  slavery  one  step  farther.  He  reported  from  a  select  committee 
appointed  for  that  purpose,  a  bill  declaring  "  it  unlawful  for  any  deputy- 
postmaster  to  put  into  the  mail  any  pamphlet,  newspaper,  handbill,  or 
pictorial  representation,  directed  to  any  person  resident  of  a  slave  State 
where,  by  the  laws  of  such  State,  the  circulation  of  such  pamphlets  or 
newspapers  were  prohibited  by  law,"  and  also  prohibiting  the  deputy- 
postmaster  in  such  slave  States  from  distributing  such  pamphlet,  news 
paper,  &c.,  unless  authorized  by  law  of  such  State. 

The  report  was  received  with  unusual  solemnity,  as  the  attention  of 
the  President,  both  Houses  of  Congress,  the  democratic  party,  and  the 
southern  portion  of  the  whig  party,  were  committed  to  the  policy  of 
suppressing  all  discussion  of  slavery. 

But  an  insuperable  difficulty  now  intervened  to  thwart  this  purpose. 
Mr.  Calhoun  had  insisted  upon  the  right  of  a  State  to  secede  from  the 


106  DOCTEINE   OF   STATE   EIGHTS. 

Union  whenever  her  people  should  feel  it  for  their  interest.  General 
Jackson  denied  this  doctrine,  and  was  sustained  by  the  democratic 
party. 

Mr.  Calhoun  still  felt  constrained  to  assert  the  sovereignty  of  the 
States  ;  and  therefore,  in  framing  the  bill,  made  the  legislation  of  Con 
gress  dependent  on  State  action,  as  the  provisions  of  the  bill  only 
applied-  to  those  Slates  which  should  prohibit  the  circulation  of  incendiary 
pamphlets,  newspapers,  &c.,  while  the  followers  of  the  President  insisted 
that  the  United  States  had  full  power  to  prohibit  the  circulation  of  such 
pamphlets,  &c.,  without  any  assistance  or  consent  of  the  State  governments; 
and  neither  party  yielding  its  position,  the  bill  was  lost. 

These  developments  in  favor  of  the  right  of  a  State  to  nullify  an 
act  of  Congress,  led  the  older  and  more  experienced  statesmen  to  under 
stand  very  satisfactorily  the  ulterior  designs  of  Mr.  Calhoun  and  his 
friends. 

1886  ^°  ^ar  as  we  are  mf°rmed>  Mr-  Calhoun,  Mr.  Webster,  and 

the  leading  statesmen  of  both  parties  of  that  day,  north  and 
south,  believed,  that  the  antagonisms  of  liberty  and  slavery,  justice  and 
injustice,  virtue  and  crime,  right  and  wrong,  might  be  reconciled,  sup 
ported  and  cherished  by  the  same  government,  at  the  same  time,  and  by 
the  same  enactments.  All  the  leading  men  of  both  whig  and  democratic 
parties  emulated  each  other  in  efforts  to  make  the  people  believe  this 
theory.  They  all  united  in  asserting  that  those  who  founded  the  govern 
ment,  intended  to  maintain  these  moral,  political,  and  religious  antago 
nisms.  If  any  public  men  were  at  that  time  conscious  that  our  Federal 
Government  had  been  constituted  entirely  for  the  support  of  freedom, 
leaving  slavery  entirely  with  the  States,  they  lacked  the  moral  courage 
necessary  to  avow  such  doctrine. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  the  leading  statesman  and  master-spirit  of  the  slave 
power,  appears  to  have  taken  as  the  basis  of  his  theory,  the  doctrine 
that  slavery  is  right.  Commencing  with  this  predicate,  he  was  con 
strained  to  discard  the  theories  of  European  and  American  writers,  and 
to  find  a  basis  for  human  governments,  not  in  the  will  of  the  Creator, 
nor  in  the  natural  laws,  nor  in  the  rights  of  human  nature,  nor  in  the 
attributes  of  Deity,  but  in  the  conflicting  interests  of  mankind,  which  must 
be  restrained  and  regulated  in  order  to  maintain  society. 

From  this  theory  all  who  adhered  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  must,  of  necessity,  have  dissented.  The  two  parties, 
taking  their  departure  from  different  and  conflicting  predicates,  could 
not  unite  either  in  theory  or  in  practice.  They  did  not  unite  after  1793, 
the  period  at  which  the  Federal  Government  first  became  involved  in  the 


CONSTITUTION   OF  ARKANSAS.  107 

support  of  slavery,  which  never  constituted- a  legitimate  subject  for  con 
gressional  legislation.  From  that  day  there  was  no  union  in  our  national 
councils  ;  no  union  between  the  slave  and  free  States.  There  never 
was  and  never  can  be  either  moral  or  political  union  between  the  sup 
porters  of  freedom,  and  those  who  maintain  slavery.  Hence  the  constant 
and  unceasing  dissentions  in  Congress. 

It  had  become  evident  to  southern  statesmen  that  freedom  of  debate 
and  the  right  of  petition  must  be  put  down,  or  slavery  must  fall  before 
the  tide  of  civilization.  Mr.  Calhoun's  contemplated  law  prohibiting  the 
circulation  of  certain  newspapers,  pamphlets,  and  periodicals  through 
the  mail  had  failed,  because  he  admitted  that  Congress  could  only  pro 
hibit  such  papers,  pamphlets,  and  periodicals  as  the  laws  of  the  States  au 
thorized.  But  the  popular  feeling  in  the  slave  States  now  executed  the 
contemplated  law  by  mob  violence.  Postmasters  in  southern  villages 
were  told  what  papers  they  might,  and  such  as  they  might  not  distribute. 
The  Legislatures  of  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Alabama,  and  Geor 
gia  adopted  resolutions  calling  on  the  Legislatures  of  the  free  States  to 
prohibit  the  sending  of  incendiary  documents  into  the  slave  States. 

Maine  was  the  only  free  State  that  responded  to  this  appeal.  Her 
Legislature  expressed  great  sympathy  with  the  slave  States  ;  but  boast 
fully  asserted  that  it  were  unnecessary  to  pass  laws  restraining  her  peo 
ple,  as  there  were  no  abolitionists  among  them.  Senator  Ruggles  pre 
sented  these  resolutions  to  the  Senate,  declaring  they  had  been  adopted 
by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  Legislature  of  that  sovereign  State. 

The  people  of  Arkansas  had  formed  a  constitution  prohibiting  her 
Legislature  from  passing  any  law  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves  ;  and 
having  also  formed  a  State  government,  now  asked  admission  to  the 
Union.  Memorials  from  other  States  were  also  presented,  asking  Con 
gress  not  to  admit  Arkansas  until  this  article  should  be  stricken  from 
her  constitution.  The  memorials  were  all  referred  ;  but  the  committee 
reported  in  favor  of  admitting  her  as  a  State,  notwithstanding  the  objec 
tionable  feature  in  her  constitution.  The  report  was  agreed  to,  and  the 
State  admitted. 

Mr.  Adams,  notwithstanding  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions  offered 
by  Mr.  Pinckney,  continued  faithfully  to  present  petitions  intrusted  to 
his  care,  with  all  the  formality  which  had  been  observed  in  the  earlier 
and  better  days  of  the  Republic.  This  excited  great  indignation  among 
southern  members  j  but  his  great  ability,  his  consummate  knowledge  of  all 
the  machinery  of  government,  and  his  perfect  familiarity  with  southern 
character,  enabled  him  to  maintain  his  position.  He  was  the  "Mar 
plot  "  of  the  slave  power.  While  southern  members  feared  his  consum- 


108  FIRST  OFFENCE   OF  MR.   ADAMS. 

mate  tact  and  acknowledged  ability,  they  felt  the  necessity  of  paralyzing 
his  influence. 

183T1  On  the  3d  February,  Mr.  Adams  being  in  possession  of  the 
floor,  and  having  presented  several  petitions,  addressing  the 
Speaker  said,  he  held  the  petition  of  twenty-two  persons,  calling  them 
selves  "slaves,"  and  he  desired  to  understand  whether  the  Speaker 
regarded  such  petitions  as  coming  under  the  rule  by  which  other  petitions 
touching  slavery  were  laid  upon  the  table  ? 

The  Speaker  very  properly  answered,  that  he  could  not  determine  that 
question  until  lie  should  peruse  the  petition. 

Mr.  Adams  replied,  that  if  he  sent  the  petition  to  the  Clerk's  table,  it 
would  be  in  possession  of  the  House  ;  if  he  sent  it  to  the  Speaker,  that 
officer  will  see  its  contents.  "  The  petition,"  said  he,  "purports  to  come, 
from  slaves,  and  is  one  of  those  which  has  occurred  to  my  mind  as  not 
being  what  it  purports,"  and  he  closed  by  saying  he  "  would  send  it  to 
the  Chair." 

Mr.  Lawler,  of  Alabama,  objected  to  its  going  to  the  Chair,  and 
desired  that  his  objections  might  be  entered  on  the  journal. 

The  Speaker  declared  the  case  so  extraordinary  that  he  would  take 
the  sense  of  the  House  upon  it.  He  believed  it  the  first  instance  in  the 
Government  where  persons  not  free,  had  presented  petitions  to  that 
body. 

The  members  now  understood  that  'Mr.  Adams  had  presented,  or 
attempted  to  present,  a  petition  from  slaves  •  and  they  at  once  became 
excited,  without  waiting  to  inquire  as  to  fa,cts. 

Mr.  Haynes,  of  Georgia,  rose  to  express  his  profound  astonishment 
that  any  member  should  presume  to  present  such  a  petition. 

Mr.  Lewis,  of  Alabama,  thought  the  House  should  severely  punish 
the  infraction  of  its  rules  ;  and  called  on  members  from  the  slave  States 
to  come  forward  and  demand  punishment  of  the  gentleman  from  Massa 
chusetts. 

Mr.  Alford,  of  Georgia,  hoped  the  petition  would  be  committed  to  the 
flames.  There  must  be  an  end  to  these  attempts  to  raise  excitements,  or 
the  Union  must  come  to  an  end. 

Mr.  Thompson,  of  South  Carolina,  next  presented  a  resolution,  declar 
ing  that  in  presenting  a  petition  purporting  to  come  from  slaves,  Mr. 
Adams  had  grossly  violated  the  dignity  of  the  House,  and  should  be 
brought  to  the  bar  to  receive  the  severe  censure  of  the  Speaker. 

Mr.  Thompson  was  a  Whig,  and  evidently  desirous  of  maintaining  the 
character  of  that  party  for  its  devotion  to  slavery.  He  proceeded  to 
say  there  was  such  an  institution  in  the  District  of  Columbia  as  a  grand 


MEMBERS   BECOME    EXCITED.  109 

jnry,  and  intimated  very  distinctly  that  if  the  gentleman  from  Massachu 
setts  should  persist  in  his  present  course,  he  would  be  indicted  for  stirring 
up  insurrection. 

Mr.  Granger,  of  New  York,  was  the  first  member  to  speak  from  the 
free  States.  He  was  a  man  of  education  and  wealth,  exerting  an  influ 
ence  in  the  House  of  Representatives  as  well  as  in  his  State  ;  but  more 
distinguished  for  his  readiness  of  debate  than  for  his  industry  or  states 
manship.  He  declared  that  he  had  been  a  friend  to  Mr.  Adams  ;  but 
was  now  greatly  surprised  at  that  gentleman's  course.  He  further  stated 
his  opposition  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  while 
Maryland  maintained  the  institution.  By  this  time  southern  members 
became  excited,  and  with  knitted  brows,  seemed  impatient  to  wreak 
their  vengeance  on  Mr.  Adams. 

Mr.  Lewis  now  presented  a  resolution  as  a  substitute  for  that  offered 
by  Mr.  Thompson,  declaring  "  that  in  attempting  to  introduce  a  petition 
coming  from  slaves,  praying  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  Mr.  Adams  had  committed  an  outrage  upon  the  rights  and 
feelings  of  the  people  of  the  Union,  had  invited  the  slave  population  of 
the  South  to  insurrection." 

While  these  proceedings  were  in  progress,  the  distinguished  object  of 
this  unusual  outpouring  of  indignation,  remained  quietly  in  his  seat, 
smiling  at  the  ludicrous  exhibition  before  him.  But  that  indignation  was 
greatly  intensified  when  he  rose  and  coolly  suggested  to  the  gentleman 
from  Alabama  (Mr.  Lewis)  the  propriety  of  amending  his  resolution  in 
that  part  which  alleged  that  the  petition  prayed  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  "  It  prays,"  said  he,  "  for  no  such 
thing.  The  gentleman  will  find  that  it  prays  that  slavery  may  'not  be 
abolished  in  thjs  District.  These  slaves  are  the  gentleman's  auxiliaries 
instead  of  his  opponents." 

Mr.  Mann,  of  New  York,  addressed  the  House.  He  was  somewhat 
distinguished  as  a  lawyer,  possessing  a  high  order  of  talent,  as  well  us 
great  integrity  of  purpose.  His  exordium  was  literally  prophetic. 
"  The  future  historian,"  said  he,  "  when  arriving  at  the  twenty-fourth 
Congress,  will  find  it  requisite  to  pause  and  contemplate  the  spectacle 
now  before  the  American  people."  He  next  deprecated  the  course  of 
M  ;•.  Adams,  and,  repeating  the  arguments  used  by  southern  slaveholders, 
he  declared  the  only  question  before  the  House  was  this  :  "  Will  north 
ern  men  live  up  to  their  contract  1  As  for  me  and  my  household,  my 
coii.stituents  and  friends,  I  say,  without  reservation,  we  will"  * 

*  Twenty  years  subsequently,  Mr.  Mann  was  a  member  of  the  Republican  Convention  which  me', 
at  Pittaburg,  Pennsylvania,  where  the  author,  also  a  member,  found  him  an  ardent  and  devoted  sup 


110  PROPOSITIONS  TO  CENSURE  MR.  ADAMS. 

Some  friends  of  Mr.  Adams  had  gone  to  his  seat  and  read  the 
petition,  and  learning  its  real  character,  with  less  solemnity  than  south 
ern  members  thought  becoming  the  occasion,  intimated  that  the  petition 
was  of  a  totally  different  character  from  that  which .  seemed  to  be 
attributed  to  it. 

At  this  suggestion,  Mr.  Thompson  appears  to  have  been  deeply 
moved.  He  said  he  was  "  sorry  to  witness  the  levity  which  was 
attempted  to  be  thrown  over  .the  subject.  Is  it  a  mere  trifle  to  hoax 
members  from  the  South?  (said  he)  to  irritate  almost  to  madness  the 
entire  delegation  from  the  slave  States  ?"  To  this  Mr.  Adams,  remain 
ing  in  his  seat,  replied  :  "I  hope  I  may  not  be  held  responsible  for  all 
the  follies  of  southern  members." 

Mr.  Thompson  then  amended  his  resolution,  dividing  it  into  three 
separate  propositions,  declaring — • 

1st.  That  the  Hon.  John  Quincy  Adams,  by  an  effort  to  present  a 
petition  from  slaves,  has  committed  a  contempt  of  this  House. 

2d.  That  by  creating  the  impression  that  said  petition  was  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  he  has  trifled  with  the 
House. 

3d.  That  he  be  censured  by  the  House  for  his  conduct. 

Mr.  Pickens,  of  South  Carolina,  addressed  the  House  in  favor  of  the 
resolutions  of  Mr.  Thompson.  He  was  a  man  of  intellect,  a  follower  of 
Mr.  Calhoun.  Although  vehement  and  unpleasant  in  his  manner  of 
speaking,  he  was  listened  to  with  great  respect,  and  was  among  the 
leading  men  of  his  State.  He  declared  that  the  great  error  lay  in  the 
resolution  prohibiting  the  reading  or  reference  of  anti-slavery  petitions, 
which  should  have  excluded  them  from  presentation,  yet  the  House  was 
bound  to  protect  its  own  dignity. 

!*Mr.  Cambrelling,  of  New  York,  was  more  cautious.  He  was  a  quiet, 
shrewd  man,  always  retaining  his  dignity  of  deportment,  never  speaking 
on  any  subject  which  he  did  not  understand.  He  told  the  House  dis 
tinctly  that  the  petition  was  itself  a  hoax,  which  was  probably  better, 
understood  by  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  than  by  his  assailants. 

Mr.  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts,  near  the  close  of  the  second  day  spent 
on  this  subject,  declared  that  his  venerable  colleague  had  neither  in  word 
nor  deed  offended  against  parliamentary  law  or  the  rules  of  the  House. 
He  said  he  would  not  say  one  word  in  relation  to  the  resolution,  but  he 
would  appeal  to  southern  men  "  to  define  their  position  ?"  To  say  in 

porter  of  the  doctrines  which  he  so  strongly  deprecated  in  1837.  His  mental  energies  could  not  be 
restrained  by  political  considerations  from  maintaining  the  right,  nor  his  conscience  paralyzed  by 
Blaveholding  influence.  His  last  days  were  literally  his  best  days. 


HE    VINDICATES    HIMSELF.  Ill 

definite  language  whether  they  intended  to  punish  members  for  enter 
taining  opinions  different  from  their  own  ?  He  wished  "  to  understand 
whether  members  were  to  be  expelled  for  presenting  petitions  even  from 
slaves" 

But  slaveholding  members  had  become  excited,  and  were  not  in  a 
condition  to  listen  to  either  facts  or  arguments.  They  continued  to 
assail  Mr.  Adams  with  great  bitterness. 

For  three  days  the  storm  raged.  During  that  time,  the  distinguished 
object  of  this  persecution  remained  in  his  seat,  calmly  listening  to  the 
assaults  made  upon  him  as  though  he  were  one  of  the  most  disinterested 
members  of  the  body.  He  took  no  notes  of  what  was  said  or  done, 
apparently  feeling  no  anxiety  oil  the  subject.  But  when  the  furor  began 
to  subside,  he  rose  to  address  the  House.  His  age,  his  experience  and 
high  position  commanded  attention.  He  was  cool  and  collected.  He 
made  no  excuses,  nor  did  he  apologize  for  his  course  of  action.  He 
declared  that  from  the  first  it  was  his  intention  to  raise  the  question 
whether  slaves  may  petition  the  House.  The  Constitution  had  declared 
that  "the  right  of  petition  should  never  he  abridged" 

The  right  is  from  nature,  and  is  common  to  the  race  of  mankind. 
Every  individual  may  supplicate  those  around  him,  his  superiors,  or  may 
ask  the  proudest  monarch  that  treads  the  earth  for  justice.  Indeed,  he 
may  send  up  his  petitions  to  the  Creator  of  worlds,  to  the  common  Father 
of  us  all  for  mercy.  This  (said  he)  is  the  right  which  the  Constitution 
says  "  shall  not  be  abridged."  We  cannot  exclude  the  petition  of  the 
meanest  slave,  without  violating  the  Constitution.  He  spoke  with  appa 
rent  feeling,"  and  a  solemnity  pervaded  the  minds  of  all. 

Having  obtained  control  of  the  feelings  of  his  audience,  he  turned 
upon  his  persecutors,  spoke  of  the  spirit  manifested  by  tfcem,  of  the 
epithets  which  they  had  used  ;  then  he  became  facetious,  ridiculed  the 
impetuous  desire  to  punish  him  before  they  knew  whereof  they  accused 
him,  convulsed  the  House  with  laughter  at  the  literature  of  leading  men 
who  sought  his  overthrow;  and  then  exposed  the  stupidity  of  Mr.  Thomp 
son,  who  had  threatened  him  with  an  indictment  by  the  grand  jury  of  the 
District  of  Columbia ;  and  held  up  to  contempt  the  statesman  who  per 
formed  his  official  duties  under  fear  of  a  grand  jury;  and  closed  by 
saying  he  had  nothing  to  retract ;  he  took  back  no  word  he  had 
uttered  ;  but  assured  the  House  he  would  do  the  same  thing  again, 
should  occasion  offer. 

This  defiance  of  the  slave  power  was  unexpected.  The  oldest  members 
of  the  body  had  never  witnessed  such  boldness,  such  heroism,  on  the 
part  of  any  northern  member.  Slaveholders  and  those  acting  with  them 


112  OKIGIN   OF   TEXAS   ANNEXATION. 

were  evidently  disappointed  and  humbled.  They  now  began  to  realize 
that  there  was  a  power  behind  and  above  that  of  Congress  and  of  party; 
they  feared  the  indignation  of  the  people,  and  rejected  the  resolutions  by 
an  overwhelming  majority. 

Mr.  Adams  was  now  vindicated.  He  had  maintained  his  doctrines, 
and  the  people  of  the  free  States  were  loud  in  his  praise. 

But  our  Government  was  not  satisfied  with  sustaining  slavery  within 
our  own  borders.  The  government  of  Mexico  had  decreed  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  all  its  intendencies.  Texas  would  not  submit  to  this  decree. 
She  rose  in  rebellion  rather  than  submit  to  this  advance  of  civilization. 
The  Executive  sympathized  with  the  Texans  :  our  army,  at  that  time 
stationed  upon  our  southwestern  frontier,  entered  Texas  with  the 
apparent  design  of  assisting  her  troops  against  the  Mexican  army ;  while 
a  host  of  adventurers  from  our  slave  States  hastened  to  Texas  with  arms 
in  their  hands,  professing  to  emigrate  for  the  purpose  of  settling  upon  the 
rich  lands  of  that  State. 

The  Mexican  minister  remonstrated.  The  Secretary  of  War  replied 
that  "  our  army  was  sent  to  Texas  in  order  to  defend  our  own  frontier 
against  the  Indians"  The  minister  demanded  his  passport,  and  left 
the  United  States.  This  was  the  commencement  of  that  intrigue 
by  which  Texas  was  eventually  brought  into  the  Union  as  a  slave 
State,  in  order  to  extend  the  influence  of  slavery  and  perpetuate  its 
existence. 

But  while  the  spirit  of  oppression  had  succeeded  in  diverting  our 
Government  from  the  support  of  freedom,  and  had  prostituted  its  powers 
to  the  encouragement  and  support  of  slavery,  the  cause  of  truth  and 
justice  was  slowly  operating  upon  the  statesmen  of  other  nations. 
Britain  hacl  emancipated  her  bondmen  of  the  West  Indies  ;  and  those 
beautiful  islands  became  the  homes  of  freemen ;  and  the  influence  of 
advancing  freedom  was  felt  by  the  people  of  our  slave  States,  and  soon 
presented  questions  for  international  correspondence  between  the  British 
and  American  Governments. 

Several  slave  ships  from  our  northern  slaveholding  States  were 
wrecked  upon  British  islands,  while  making  their  way  around  the  penin 
sula  of  Florida,  and  the  slaves  landed  on  British  soil  became  free,  and 
when  under  the  protection  of  British  laws,  they  refused  to  return  to 
bondage. 

Mr.  Calhoun  brought  the  subject  before  the  Senate,  by  presenting 
certain  propositions  which  he  deemed  declarative  of  "  international 
law."  The  first  of  which  was,  that  an  American  ship,  sailing  from  one 
American  port  to  another,  was  not  liable  to  search.  The  second 


MR.  CALHOUN  ON  THE  LAW  OF  NATIONS.         113 

declared  that  a'  ship  driven  by  stress  of  weather  into  a  friendly  port, 
carries  with  her  the  rights  and  privileges  which  she  enjoyed  while  on  the 
high  seas. 

The  object  of  these  resolutions  was  to  change  that  principle  in  the 
law  of  nations  which  recognizes  the  sovereignty  and  laws  of  every  govern 
ment  over  its  territory,  harbors  and  waters,  within  a  marine  league  of 
the  shore. 

Nor  should  we  at  this  day  smile  derisively  at  this  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  by  resolution  to  change  the  law  of 
nations,  which  is  nothing  more  and  nothing  less  than  the  dictates  of  that 
immutable  justice  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  outbreathing  of  the  Divine 
will.  The  slaveholding  influence  had  led  our  own  Government  to  depart 
from  and  disregard  that  will  of  the  Creator  ;  and  ambitious  slaveholders 
believed  that  other  governments  might  be  subjected  to  the  same  influ 
ences.  The  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  the  President  called  on  for 
the  correspondence  between  our  Government  and  that  of  England  on  the 
subject  of  slaves  wrecked  on  British  islands.  The  President  transmitted 
to  the  Senate  copies  of  the  correspondence,  from  which  it  appeared  that 
British  Ministers  refused  to  accede  to  the  dogma  that  slaves  were  property. 
British  officers  and  Government  regarded  human  beings  as  persons,  in 
capable  of  being  transformed  into  property,  and  they  refused  to  com 
pensate  those  dealers  in  human  flesh. 

This  position  of  the  British  Ministers  was  the  more  alarming  and 
dangerous  to  the  slave  interest,  because  it  was  in  exact  accordance  with 
the  decision  of  our  House  of  Representatives,  made  in  the  case  of 
"  D'Autrieve,"  nine  years  previously,  and  on  the  motion  to  refer  the  sub 
ject,  Mr.  Calhoun  took  occasion  to  state  that  two  ships,  the  "  Comet " 
and  the  "  Encomium,"  had  been  wrecked  on  British  islands,  and  their 
slaves  set  free  under  British  laws.  He  then  declared  that  British 
ministers  had  adopted  one  principle  which  it  was  scarcely  credible  that 
so  intelligent  a  government  could  assume.  He  referred  to  the  principle 
that  "there  could  not  be  property  in  persons  ;"  such  doctrine,  he  declared, 
insulting  to  our  Government,  and  would  strike  at  the  independence  of 
our  country.  He  then  attempted  to  maintain  the  right  of  one  man  to 
the  body  and  services  of  another,  by  charging  Great  Britain  with 
hypocrisy.  The  principle  (said  he)  which  would  abrogate  the  property 
of  one  man  in  the  body  of  another,  would  abrogate  the  right  of  one 
nation  to  govern  another.  If  man  by  nature  has  the  right  to  self- 
government,  have  not  nations  an  equal  right  ? 


114  ME.  CALHOUN'S  OBJECT. 

But  Mr.  Calhoun's  object  appears  to  have  been  merely  to  call  public 
attention  to  the  subject,  and  to  place  his  own  views  and  those  of  the 
Senate  before  our  people  and  the  British  Ministry.  There  were  no  fur 
ther  proceedings  had  on  the  subject  at  that  time  ;  but  as  it  afterwards 
came  up  on  different  occasions,  we  shall  notice  the  proceedings  in  their 
regular  order. 


THE  TWENTY-FIFTH   CONGRESS.  115 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  GAG-RULES  INTRODUCED  AND  ADOPTED EFFORT  TO  CHANGE  THE  CHAR 
ACTER  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT— ATTEMPTS  TO  CHARGE  THE  ANTI-SLAVERY 
MEN  WITH  EFFORTS  TO  VIOLATE  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

MR.  YAN  BUREN  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United  ,18ST 
States  on  the  4th  March.  He  had  received  a.  liberal  education, 
had  distinguished  himself  as  a  lawyer,  had  served  his  country  as  Senator, 
foreign  minister,  and  Vice-President.  He  was  an  admirer  of  General 
Jackson,  and  a  devoted  member  of  the  democratic  party.  In  his 
inaugural  he  made  allusions  to  slavery  and  the  obligations  of  the  Govern 
ment  to  maintain  and  uphold  it  ;  but  his  language  was  so  vague  that 
no  distinct  issue  could  be  taken  upon  it  by  his  opponents  while  it  was 
unobjectionable  to  his  friends. 

Such  were  the  financial  difficulties  under  which  the  Government  then 
labored,  that  he  found  it  necessary  to  convene  Congress  in  extra  session 
on  the  4th  September.  In  his  message  he  made  no  distinct  reference  to 
slavery,  and  the  attention  of  that  body  was  exclusively  directed  to  the 
subject  which  called  its  members  together. 

The  regular  session  of  the  twenty-fifth  Congress  commenced  on  the 
4th  December  ;  but  the  President  in  his  annual  message  made  no  direct 
allusion  to  slavery  or  the  slave  trade.  The  subject,  however,  was  soon 
introduced  by  petitions  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  A  long  debate  arose  in  the  Senate  in  regard  to  the  best 
mode  of  quieting  the  popular  mind,  and  soothing  the  disquietude  in  the 
free  States.  But  no  proposition  to  modify  or  eradicate  the  evil  was 
brought  before  Congress.  It  was  admitted  by  all,  that  hostility  to 
slavery  and  the  slave  trade  was  increasing  and  strengthening  ;  yet  no 
member  either  from  the  North  or  South  intimated  that  the  Senate  must 
eventually  yield  to  the  popular  feeling  ;  must  do  justice,  and  sustain 
liberty  ;  on  the  contrary,  every  member  'appeared  anxious  to  devise 
some  means  to  satisfy  the  people  without  removing  the  cause  of  com 
plaint. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  Mr.  Adams  had  been  regarded  as 
the  ablest  and  most  devoted  advocate  of  the  right  of  petition;  but  he 
went  no  farther.  On  two  occasions  he  had  expressed  a  desire  that 


116  ABOLITION   IN   THE   DISTRICT   OF   COLUMBIA. 

all  debate  on  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  might  be 
avoided. 

But  another  member  now  stood  forth  as  an  undisguised  advocate  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia.     Hon- 
Win.  Slade,  of  Yennont,  born  and  educated  in  that  State,  had  served  in 
the  twenty-fourth  Congress,  he  had  quietly  noticed  the  assumptions  and 
arrogance  with  which  that  body  was  led  to  the  support  of  an  institution 
which  he  detested.     He  presented  resolutions  from  the  Legislature  of 
Vermont  and  memorials  from  many  citizens  of  that  State  for  the  aboli 
tion  of  the  slave  trade  at  our  national  metropolis,  and  appears  to  have 
determined  on '  ascertaining  the  feelings  of  the  House  in  regard  to  that 
commerce  which  had  long  disgraced  our  nation.     He  therefore  pro 
posed  to  refer  the  memorials  to  a  select  committee,  with  instructions 
to  report  a  bill  for  its  total  abolition  in  the  District  of  Columbia.     On 
presenting  his  motion  he  made  a  few  remarks,  saying  that  petitions 
on  all  other   subjects  were   respectfully  received  and   reported   upon. 
If  he  were  to  present  a  petition  in  regard  to  property  to'  the  amount 
of  twenty  dollars  it  would  be  referred  and  a  report  in  answer  to  it 
would  be  made,  while  petitions  involving  the  liberties  of  thousands  of 
native-born  inhabitants  were  sent  to  the  silent  tomb  with  the  certainty 
of  clock-work.     Mr.  Legare,  of  South  Carolina,  solemnly  entreated  Mr. 
Slade  to  reflect  on  the  consequences  of  his  course.     That  gentleman 
continued  his  remarks  at  some  length.     Mr.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  called 
on  members  from  that  State  to  retire  from  the  hall. 

Mr.  Halsey,  of  Georgia,  invoked  members  from  his  State  to  follow 
the  example  of  Mr.  Wise.  Mr.  Garland  joined  in  this  request,  and 
Mr.  Rhett,  of  South  Carolina,  said  the  members  from  his  State  had 
already  left  the  hall. 

Mr.  Slade  retained  the  floor,  but  Mr.  Rhett  rose  to  a  point  of  order. 
The  Speaker  declared  that  he  had  done  all  he  could  to  prevent  the  gen 
tleman  from  Vermont  from  debating  the  subject,  and  said  if  it  were  possi 
ble  he  would  allay  the  excitement. 

Mr.  Turney,  of  Tennessee,  said,  "  I  rise  to  a  question  of  order." 
Mr.  Slade.    "  I  ask  leave  to  read  a  paper." 
Mr.  Garland.    "  I  object  to  the  reading." 
The  Speaker.    "  The  gentleman  will  take  his  seat."* 
Mr.  McKay,  of  North  Carolina.    "  Has  not  the  gentleman  been  de 
clared  out  of  order  ?" 

*  Mr.  Benton,  in  his  "  Thirty  Years,"  while  describing  this  scene,  says:  "John  White,  of  Ken 
tucky,  was  Speaker."  But  that  gentleman  was  not  elected  Speaker  until  December,  1841,  while 
this  scene  occurred  in  1838.  Mr.  Polk,  of  Tennessee,  was  Speaker  from  1836  to  1841. 


SOUTHERN   MEMBERS   SECEDE.  117 

The  Speaker.     "  He  has." 

Mr.  McKay.     "  Then  has  he  the  right  to  proceed  ?" 

The  Speaker.    "  I  was  about  to  propound  that  question  to  the  House." 

Mr.  Slade.     "  I  propose  to  read  a  paper." 

Mr.  Turney.     "  I  object," 

The  Speaker  declared  Mr.  Slade  out  of  order,  and  while  that  gentle 
man  was  endeavoring  to  vindicate  his  strict  jobservance  of  order,  Mr. 
Rencher,  of  North  Carolina,  moved  an  adjournment.  Mr.  Allen,  of 
Vermont,  called  for  the  ayes  and  noes  on  this  motion  ;  but  it  prevailed, 
166  to  63.* 

During  these  proceedings  most  members  from  Virginia,  South  Caro 
lina,  and  Georgia  had  left  the  hall.  This  was  the  first  secession  on  the 
part  of  southern  members  of  Congress.  But  when  the  motion  to  adjourn 
was  made  it  was  found  impossible  to  carry  it  unless  the  recusant  mem 
bers  returned  to  their  seats,  inasmuch  as  Mr.  Adams  and  his  friends 
opposed  the  motion.  Soon  as  the  Speaker  announced  the  House  ad 
journed,  Mr.  Campbell,  of  South  Carolina,  in  a  loud  voice,  stated  that 
the  "  southern  delegates  were  requested  to  meet  immediately  in  the  room 
of  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia."  They  did  so,  and  hav 
ing  assembled  by  themselves,  began  to  reflect  upon  their  future  course. 
To  leave  the  city  because  a  northern  member  dared  utter  his  honest  con 
victions  in  parliamentary  language,  appeared  unwise.  Their  object  had 
been  undoubtedly  to  frighten  northern  members.  That  expectation  had 
failed,  and  it  appeared  necessary  to  devise  some  means  to  avoid  the  ridi 
cule  which  seemed  likely  to  be  thrown  upon  their  action.  They  finally 
adopted  a  resolution,  which  they  agreed  should  be  passed  by  the  House 
as  the  only  condition  on  which  they  would  return  to  their  duties.  It  was 
expressed  in  the  following  language  : 

"Resolved,  That  all  petitions,  memorials,  and  papers  touching  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  or  the  buying,  selling,  or  transferring  slaves  in  any 
State,  or  district,  or  territory  of  the  United  States,  be  laid  on  the  table 
without  being  debated,  printed,  read,  or  referred,  and  that  no  action  be 
taken  thereon." 

Mr.  Patten,  of  Virginia,  one  of  the  recusants,  was  directed  to  pre 
sent  it  to  the  House,  and  every  seceding  member  was  enjoined  to  be  in 
his  seat  to  vote  for  it. 

*  Mr.  Benton,  in  his  "Thirty  Years,"  declares  "this  opposition  to  the  adjournment  one  of  the 
worst  features  of  that  unhappy  day's  work."  The  writer  deems  it  one  of  the  most  fortunate  fea 
tures  of  the  day's  work.  Most  southern  members  had  left  the  hall,  and  Mr.  Adams  and  his  friends 
determined  to  proceed  in  the  business  before  the  House  as  though  nothing  unusual  had  happened, 
and  they  would  have  done  so  had  not  the  seceding  members  returned  to  their  seats  and  voted  for 
the  adjournment. 


118  THEY   KETTJKN   TO  THE   UNION. 

Accordingly,  on  the  following  day  the  members  appeared  in  their 
seats  as  usual.  Mr.  Patten  introduced  his  resolution,  and  with  great 
solemnity  spoke  of  the  return  of  southern  members  as  a  concession,  declar 
ing  they  would  do  what  they  could  to  save  the  Union,  PROVIDED  this  reso 
lution  were  adopted.  He  then  moved  the  previous  question. 

This  slaveholding  cabal  thus  publicly,  with  an  effrontery  unrivalled, 
declared  their  return  to  the  Union  should  depend  upon  the  unmistak 
able  violation  of  the  Constitution,  by  abridging  the  right  of  petition, 
and  suppressing  the  freedom  of  debate.  But  the  proposition  was  made 
to  the  democratic  party  who  then  held  control  of  both  Houses  of  Con 
gress  ;  indeed  every  recusant  was  a  Democrat,  and  nearly  the  entire 
party  now  voted  for  the  resolution  dictated  to  them  by  slaveholding 
insolence  as  the  price  of  the  Union. 

Southern  members  of  both  political  parties  voted  for  the  resolution, 
assisted  by  the  following  members,  to  wit  : 

From  Maine,  Messrs.  Anderson,  Fairfield,  and  Robertson,  .     .     3 

From  Connecticut,  Messrs.  Phelps  and  Holt, 2 

From  New  Hampshire,  Messrs  Atherton,  Farrington,  Weeks 
and  Williams, 4 

From  New  York,  Messrs.  Moore,  Kemble,  Titus,  Brodhead, 
McClellan,  Tail,  Palmer,  Spencer,  Edwards,  Loomis,  Prentiss, 
Parker,  Noble,  Birdsal,  Andrews,  15 

From  Pennsylvania,  Messrs.  Fry,  Wagner,  Hubly,  Risly,  Logan, 
McClure,  Hammond,  Morris,  Klingingsmith,  Buchanan,  Beaty,  11 

From  Indiana,  Mr.  Boon, 1 

From  Illinois,  Messrs.  Casey  and  Snider 2 

Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Yermont,  New  Jersey,  and  Michigan 
gave  no  vote  for  the  repudiation  of  the  Constitution. 

When  the  name  of  John  Quincy  Adams  was  called,  the  heroic  old 
statesman  rose  in  his  place,  and  with  great  solemnity  of  manner  and  Ian. 
guage  pronounced  the  resolution  "  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  ;"  but 
his  voice  was  then  drowned  amid  the  calls  to  order  by  slaveholders  and 
their  servile  "  allies,"  and  he  proceeded  no  further  with  his  remarks.  But 
the  resolution  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  122  ayes  to  74  noes  ;  the  Whigs 
of  the  free  States  voting  against  its  adoption.* 

Another  clause  in  the  Federal  Constitution  was  thus  practically  erased 

*  Hon.  R.  Barnwell  Rhett,  of  South  Carolina,  in  a  published  letter  to  his  constituents  termed 
this  leaving  the  hall  "  a  •memorable  secession  of  southern  members,"  and  stated  that  he  had  pre 
pared  two  amendments  to  Mr.  Slade's  proposition ;  1st,  deelaring  it  expedient  that  the  Union 
should  be  dissolved.  2d,  appointing  a  committee  to  report  upon  the  best  means  for  peaceably 
dissolving  it." 

Mr.  Benton,  in  his  "  Abridgment  of  Congressional  Debates,"  by  wa/  of  note,  on  f>age  565,  of  tho 


MK.  CALHOTJN'S  RESOLUTIONS.  119 

from  the  great  charter  of  American  freedom  ;  like  the  other  repudiated 
portions,  it  was  surrendered  at  the  dictation  of  the  slave  power  by  north 
ern  representatives  under  pretence  of  "saving  the  Union." 

But  the  term  "  UNION,"  no  longer  had  reference  to  that  "  moral 
entity,"  that  "  union  of  purpose,"  "  union  of  rights,"  and  "  union  of 
hearts  "  which  constituted  the  Government  instituted  by  the  patriots  of 
1776.  The  term  was  now  understood  to  have  reference  to  the  as 
sociation  of  States,  whose  people  never  united  with  the  advocates 
of  liberty,  nor  adopted  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence. 

The  right  of  petition  and  the  freedom  of  debate  appeared  to  be  now 
fully  suppressed,  and  despotism  inexorable  and  unmitigated  ruled  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

Manifestations  of  dissatisfaction  among  the  people  were  now  too  nu 
merous  to  be  disregarded.  To  debate  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  then 
enlightened  state  of  the  public  mind,  would  endanger  the  existence  of 
the  institution.  To  refuse  attention  to  the  popular  voice,  would  be  insult 
ing  to  the  people.  It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  Mr.  Calhoun 
attempted  to  set  bounds  to  the  waves  which  agitated  the  sea  of  public 
thought,  by  a  series  of  resolutions  which  he  presented  to  the  Senate  for 
adoption,  in  the  following  language  : 

1.  Resolved,  That  each  State  entered  into  the  Union  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  to  itself  all  natural,  social  and  political  advantages. 

2.  That  each  State  retains  its  entire  power  over  its  domestic  institu 
tions. 

3.  The  Federal  Government  is  the  common  agent  of  all  the  States 
so  far  as  practicable,  to  protect  and  support  their  institutions. 

4.  Pomestic  slavery  is  an  institution  of  the  southern  States. 

5.  That  the  intermeddling  of  any  State  or  States,  or  their  citizens, 
with  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in  the  Territories  of  the 
United  States  on  the  ground  that  it  is  immoral  or  sinful,  would  be  a 
direct   and  dangerous   attack  upon  the  institutions  of  all  the   slave 
States.* 

The  use  of  the  word  advantages  at  the  close  of  the  first  resolution 
instead  of  rights,  constituted  but  a  characteristic  of  the  whole  series. 

18th  volume,  says,  this  was  "  the  most  disturbing  movement  on  the  subject  of  slavery  ever  made 
In  Congress."  In  his  "Thirty  Years"  he  says,  "It  was  the  most  angry  debate  which  had  th&n 
occurred." 

*  Senator  Benton,  in  Ms  "Thirty  Years,"  declares  that  during  the  debate  on  these  resolutions,  it 
did  not  occur  to  him  that  Mr.  Calhoun,  as  a  member  of  Mr.  Monroe's  Cabinet,  had  approved  the 
exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  territory  north  of  86  deg.  80  min.  north  latitude,  and  signed  a  paper 
stating  this  approval. 


120  THEIR    ILLOGICAL   CHARACTER.         s 

For  the  intelligent  reader  cannot  fail  to  perceive  the  gross  error  and 
illogical  character  of  the  assertion,  "  that  the  intermeddling  of  any  State 
or  States,  or  their  citizens,  with  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or 
in  the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  immoral 
or  sinful,  would  constitute  a  direct  and  dangerous  attack  upon  the  insti 
tutions  of  the  slave  States." 

183T  j          The  resolutions  were  doubtless  an  expression  of  the  honest 
views  of  Mr.  Calhoun.     They  evidently  originated  in  that  sphere 
of  thought  in  which  his  mind  revolved.     His  entire  theory  of  govern 
ment  differed  from  that  on  which  the  founders  of  our  institutions  rested. 
Hence  the  1st,  3d,  and  5th  resolutions  were  in  unmistakable  conflict  with 
the  Federal  Constitution  and  the  Declaration  of  Independence.     The 
statesmen  who  formed  the  Union  declared  its  purpose  was  to  secure  all  per 
sons  in  the  enjoyment  of  "life,  liberty  and  happiness."     The  first  of  these 
resolutions  declares  it  was  to  secure  the  several  States  in  the  enjoyment 
of  their  social  and  political  advantages.     The  third  resolution  declares 
the  Federal  Government  to  be  the  agent  of  all  the  States  so  far  as  prac 
ticable,  to  protect  and  support  their  institutions.     This  contained  the 
gist  of  the  slaveholding  theory.     The  purpose  was  to  make  the  Federal. 
Government  the  supporter  of  slavery — the  instrument  for  overthrow 
ing  the  essential  principles  of  liberty — its  adoption  constituted  an  im 
portant  step  in  the  transformation  of  the  Government  to  a  slaveholding 
oligarchy.     But  the  fifth  resolution  was  evidently  aimed  at  Christianity 
itself. 

The  numerous  petitions  and  memorials  against  slavery  and  the  slave 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  the  Territories,  and  on  the  high 
seas,  were  based  upon  the  principle  that  oppression  of  our  fellow-men, 
and  the  sale  and  transfer  of  human  beings  were  revolting  to  the  .civil 
ization  of  the  age,  were  barbarous,  were  violations  of  justice,  transgres 
sions  of  the  laws  of  nature,  and  of  nature's  God,  offensive  both  to 
God  and  all  good  men.  But  the  resolution  tacitly  admitting  the  con 
stitutional  right  of  the  memorialists  to  ask  for  their  abolition,  denied 
the  right  to  ask  it  on  account  of  its  being  immoral  or  sinful.  Thus  deny 
ing  the  right  of  governments  to  act  upon  the  clearly  revealed  will  of  the 
Creator. 

The  discussion  of  these  resolutions  was  somewhat  protracted,  and 
Senators  deemed  their  adoption  so  important  that  each  wrote  out  his 
own  remarks  upon  them  in  order  that  his  views  might  not  be  subse 
quently  misunderstood. 

But  we  rise  from  the  examination  of  that  debate  with  feelings  of  mor 
tification  and  disappointment,  at  finding  no  Senator  from  the  North  or 


ME.  STEVENSON'S  CHALLENGE  OF  O'CONNELL.          121 

the  South  willing  to  vindicate  the  founders  of  our  institutions  in  estab 
lishing  a  free  government.  No  one  appeared  willing  to  deny  the  propo 
sitions  of  Mr.  Calhoun.* 

In  all  ages  of  the  world  men  high  in  office  have  imagined  themselves 
clothed  with  powers  and  influence  which  they  did  not  possess.  Mr. 
Calhoun  and  the  Senators  who  were  acting  with  him  unquestionably  sup 
posed  they  were  laying  down  doctrines  and  enunciating  principles  to 
govern  Congress  in  all  coming  time.f 

In  the  course  of  the  debate  objections  were  made  to  the  resolutions  on 
account  of  their  direct  reference  to  religious  opinions  ;  but  Mr.  Calhoun 
replied  :  "  The  abolitionists  assail  slavery  because  it  is  wicked  and  sinful, 
and  I  wish  to  meet  them  distinctly  on  that  point." 

Mr.  Preston,  of  South  Carolina,  proposed  to  discard  the  words  "  im 
moral  and  sinful/'  but  Mr.  Calhoun  was  inexorable.  He  declared  that 
religious  fanaticism  had  sent  thousands  of  victims  to  the  stake,  and^tbo- 
lition  (said  he)  "  is  nothing  else  than  religious  fanaticism." 

The  resolutions  were  adopted  by  a  vote  of  35  to  9. 

The  members  of  the  twenty-fifth  Congress  convened  for  their 
second  session  on  the  3d  December  :  and  on  the  following  day  Mr. 
Adams  presented  a  resolution  and  preamble  reciting  that  our  minister  at 
the  court  of  St.  James  had  brought  disgrace  upon  our  nation  by  challeng 
ing  Daniel  O'Connell,  a  member  of  the  British  House  of  Commons,  to 
mortal  combat,  for  having  said  in  a  public  speech,  that  "  the  American 
Government  was  represented  at  the  English  court  by  a  man  who  reared 
men  and  women  for  market." 

O'Connell  was  a  distinguished  orator  and  philanthropist,  and  did  not 
hesitate  to  speak  truth  boldly  and  frankly  :  Holding  slavery  in  great 
abhorrence,  he  referred  to  Mr.  Stevenson,  our  minister  at  London,  in  a 
public  speech  in  terms  more  truthful  than  respectful.  Mr.  Stevenson, 
feeling  the  pungency  of  the  .remarks,  sent  him  the  challenge  referred  to  ; 
and  Mr.  Adams  determined  to  expose  the  transaction.  But  the  intro 
duction  of  this  resolution  aroused  the  ire  of  slaveholders,  and  it  wa,s  laid 

*  Mr.  Benton  was  one  of  the  strongest  opponents  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  doctrines  in  regard  to  seces 
sion  ;  but  he  agreed  with  that  Senator  in  regard  to  memorials  concerning  slavery  and  the  slavo 
trade,  and  in  his  "  Thirty  Years,"  says  the  petitioners  "  did  not  live  in  any  State,  Territory,  or  dis 
trict  subject  to  slavery.  They  felt  none  of  the  evils  of  which  they  complained,  were  answerable  for 
none  of  the  supposed  sins  which  they  denounced,  were  living  under  a  government  which  acknow 
ledged  property  in  slaves,  and  had  no  right  to  disturb  the  rights  of  others." — Vide" Thirty 
Years,"  &c.,  vol.  ii.,  page  134. 

t  Mr.  Benton  hi  referring  to  this  debate,  says,  "  The  resolutions  and  the  debate  upon  them  con 
stitute  the  most  important  proceeding  on  the  subject  of  slavery  which  has  ever  taken  place  in  Con 
gress.  They  were  framed  to  declare  the  whole  power  of  Congress  on  the  subject  and  were  presented 
for  a  test  vote,  and  as  a  future  platform  and  per-manent  settlement  of  the  law  on  the  slavery 
question." — Vide  Benton's  "Abridgment  of  Debates,"  vol.  xiii.,  page  568. 


122  INTRODUCTION   OF  ATHEKTON   GAG-RULES. 

on  the  table  ;  but,  ever  steady  to  his  purpose,  Mr.  Adams  embraced 
the  first  opportunity  to  lay  the  facts  before  the  country  in  a  public 
speech. 

The  first  and  most  important  business  apparently  claiming  attention 
of  the  democratic  party,  which  then  controlled  the  Government,  was  the 
suppression  of  the  constitutional  right  of  petition  and  of  debate.  To 
devise  measures  to  effect  that  object,  they  held  a  caucus  on  the  night  of 
the  first  day  of  the  session,  at  which  resolutions  were  considered,  and 
ordered  to  be  presented  to  the  House  of  Representatives.  They  were 
said  to  have  been  penned  by  Mr.  Calhoun — they  certainly  expressed 
doctrines  and  asserted  a  policy  which  that  Senator  had  previously 
avowed  ;  but  Mr.  Atherton,  of  New  Hampshire,  was  selected  as  the 
agent  to  present  them.  They  were  evidently  intended  as  a  part  of  the 
system  adopted  in  the  Senate  ;  and  demonstrate  the  character  of  that 
government  into  which  it  was  intended  to  transform  the  Republic.  They 
were  couched  in  the  following  language  : 

"  Resolved,  That  this  is  a  Government  of  limited  powers,  and  that  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  Congress  has  no  jurisdiction  over 
slavery  in  the  several  States  of  the  confederacy. 

"  Resolved,  %d,  That  petitions  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  and  the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  and  against 
the  removal  of  slaves  from  one  State  to  another,  are  a  part  of  a  plan  of 
operations  set  on  foot  to  affect  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  several  States, 
and  thus  indirectly  to  abolish  it  within  their  limits. 

11  Resolved,  3d,  That  Congress  has  no  right  to  do  that  indirectly 
which  it  cannot  do  directly  ;  and  that  the  agitation  of  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  or  the  Territories,  as  a  means  and  with  the  view  of 
disturbing  or  overthrowing  the  institution  in  the  several  States,  is  against 
the  true  spirit  and  meaning  of  the  Constitution,  an  infringement  of  the 
rights  of  the  States  affected,  and  a  breach  of  the  public  faith  upon  which 
they  entered  into  the  confederacy. 

"  Resolved,  ±th,  That  the  Constitution  rests  upon  the  broad  principle 
of  equality  among  the  members  of  the  confederacy,  and  that  Congress, 
in  the  exercise  of  its  acknowledged  powers,  has  no  right  to  discriminate 
between  the  institutions  of  one  portion  of  the  States  and  another  with  a 
view  of  abolishing  one  and  promoting  the  other. 

"  Resolved,  therefore,  That  all  attempts  on  the  part  of  Congress  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  or  the  Territories,  or  to  pro 
hibit  the  removal  of  slaves  from  State  to  State,  or  to  discriminate 
between  the  institutions  of  one  portion  of  the  confederacy  and  another 
with  the  mews  aforesaid,  are  a  violation  of  the  Constitution,  destructive 


MENDACITY   OF   THE   EESOLUTIONS.  123 

of  the  fundamental  principles  on  which  the  union  of  these  States  rests, 
and  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  Congress  :  and  that  every  petition,  memo 
rial,  resolution,  proposition  or  paper  touching  or  relating  in  any  way,  or 
to  any  extent  whatever,  to  slavery  as  aforesaid,  or  the  abolition  thereof, 
shall  on  presentation  thereof,  without  any  further  action  thereon,  be  laid 
on 'the  table  without  being  debated,  printed,  or  referred." 

The  unmitigated  mendacity  which  imputed  to  the  Christian  philan 
thropists  of  that  day  a  design  unconstitutionally  to  interfere  with 
slavery  in  the  States,  excited  astonishment  in  the  minds  of  honest  men. 
Among  the  petitioners  thus  assailed  were  men  of  high  moral  and  Chris 
tian  character.  None  were  more  patriotic,  none  more  enlightened.  But 
the  slave  power  and  the  democratic  party  felt  it  necessary  to  place  this 
official  slander  upon  the  journals  of  the  House  ;  and  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century  it  was  repeated  by  servile  politicians  and  puerile  demagogues. 

The  mover  of  the  resolutions,  on  presenting  them,  made  a  speech 
urging  their  adoption,  and  then  demanded  the  previous  question.  The 
first  resolution  was  adopted  by  194  to  6.  Messrs.  Adams,  of  Massa 
chusetts  ;  Evans,  of  Maine  ;  Everet  and  Slade,  of  Yermont ;  Russel, 
of  New  York,  and  Potts,  of  Pennsylvania,  voting  in  the  negative. 

The  second,  or  libellous  resolve,  was  adopted  by  a  party  vote  of  136 
to  65  ;  the  third  was  adopted  by  164  to  40  ;  the  fourth  by  174  to  24  ; 
and  the  fifth  by  173  to  26.  They  subsequently  became  famous  as  the 
"  Atherton  gag."* 

These  resolutions  constituting  the  record  evidence  so  often  quoted  to 
show  that  the  advocates  of  liberty  were  seeking  to  invade  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  slave  States  by  abolishing  slavery  therein,  renders  it  the  duty 
of  the  historian  to  say,  that  no  petition  praying  Congress  to  interfere  with 
slavery  in  the  States  had  been  presented  in  either  House  ;  no  resolution 
or  bill  had  been  presented  for  that  purpose  ;  no  member  of  Congress  had 
advocated  such  measure  by  public  speech  nor  in  private  conversation,  so 
far  as  the  author  has  knowledge,  although  for  thirty  years  he  held  more 
public  and  private  conversation  with  the  lovers  of  liberty  than  perhaps 
any  other  member  of  Congress  :  nor  did  the  author  during  that  time 
ever  hear  or  learn  that  any  private  citizen  entertained  an  idea  that  Con 
gress  possessed  the  power,  or  expressed  a  desire  that  that  body  should 
interfere  with  the  institution  otherwise  than  by  separating  the  Govern- 
mcnt  and  the  people  of  the  free  States  from  its  crimes  and  disgrace. 

*  The  writer  first  took  his  seat  in  Congress  during  this  session.  On  inquiring  of  Mr.  Adams  why 
he  \oted  against  the  first  resolution,  that  experienced  statesman  informed  him  that,  in  case  of  war, 
Congress  and  the  Executive  would  become  possessed  of  full  power  over  the  institution,  and  might 
aboli^Ji  it  if  deemed  necessary  to  save  the  Government. 


Southern  Whigs  appeared  anxious  to  have  it  understood  thajt  they 
were  more  devoted  to  slavery  than  their  democratic  rivals.  For  this 
purpose  Mr.  Wise  introduced  propositions  declaring  "  that  petitions  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in  the  Territories, 
were  in  violation  of  the  Federal  Constitution :  that  Congress  had  no  power 
to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  on  the  high  seas,  or  in 
,the  Territories,  as  a  means  or  with  a  view  of  overturning  slavery  in  the 
States :  that  the  laws  of  Congress  alone  governed  the  arrest  and  return 
of  fugitive  slaves  :  that  Congress  cannot  impose  upon  a  State  the  abo- 
lition  of  slavery  as  a  condition  of  its  admission  to  the  Union  :  and, 
finally,  that  the  slaveholding  citizens  of  this  Union  have  the  right  volun 
tarily  to  take  their  slaves  to  and  through  non-slaveholding  States,  and 
to  sojourn  and  remain  with  them  temporarily  in  any  of  the  States;  and 
that  the  Federal  Government  is  bound  to  protect  the  rights  of  the 
slaveholding  States  ;"  but  Mr.  Wise  was  unable  to  get  his  propositions 
before  the  House  for  consideration. 

Mr.  Slade,  of  Vermont,  was  equally  unfortunate.  He  presented  a 
series  of  resolutions  setting  forth  the  existence  of  the  slave  trade  in  the 
District,  describing  its  barbarous  character,  and  declaring  that  the  reso 
lutions  presented  by  Mr.  Atherton  and  adopted  by  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  were  not  intended  to  protect  the  traffic  in  human  flesti. 

When  the  ayes  and  noes  were  called  on  suspending  the  rules  to  receive 
these  resolutions,  the  name  of  John  Quincy  Adams  was  announced,  being 
the  first  on  the  list.  That  venerable  member  rose,  and  in  a  clear  and 
distinct  voice  said,  "  I  refuse  to  answer,  considering  all  the  resolutions" — 
The  Speaker  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  striking  his  gavel  rapidly  upon  the 
sounding-board  in  front  of  him,  called  Mr.  Adams  to  order,  amid  the 
most  clamorous  cries  for  "order"  from  all  parts  of  the  hall.  Mr. 
Adams  remained  standing,  and  appeared  to  listen  with  great  solemnity  to 
the  admonitions  of  the  Speaker  ;  and  when  that  officer  resumed  his  seat, 
he  added  :  "  considering  all  the  resolutions  UNCONSTITUTIONAL."  This  was 
uttered  in  a  clear  voice  which  was  heard  above  the  clamors  of  other  mem 
bers,  and  the  excited  voice  of  the  Speaker,  calling  on  all  members  to 
assist  him  in  restoring  order  !  As  Mr.  Adams  resumed  his  seat,  Mr. 
Thompson,  of  South  Carolina,  was  recognized,  and  he  proceeded  to  say, 
"  the  Speaker  calls  on  members  to  assist  him  in  restoring  order,  and  I 
am  anxious  to  do  so  ;"  and  then,  with  subdued  voice,  inquired,  "  what 
shall  I  do  ?"  The  subdued  voice  of  Thompson,  the  silence  that  for  a 
moment  pervaded  the  hall,  the  awkward  interrogatory  propounded,  the 
whimsical  position  in  which  it  placed  both  the  Speaker  and  interrogator, 
appeared  to  impress  members  with  a  sense  of  the  ridiculous,  which  was 


A   SLAVE   OOFFLE   AT   THE   CAPITOL.  125 

still  further  increased  by  the  Speakers  declaring  "  the  gentleman  from 
South  Carolina  out  of  order. "  * 

The  motion  to  suspend  the  rules  failed,  and  the  resolutions  were  not 
considered  nor  debated. 

Petitions  for  the  abolition  of  the  coastwise  slave  trade,  the  interstate 
slave  trade,  the  slave  trade  and  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
in  the  Territories,  and  memorials  against  the  annexation  of  Texas,  were 
now  constantly  sent  to  members,  presented  to  the  House,  received  in 
silence,  and  entombed  in  the  deep  alcoves  of  the  Clerk's  rooms  ;  but 
none  were  permitted  to  be  read,  debated,  or  committed. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  of  Kentucky,  presented  a  resolution  directing  the  Com 
mittee  on  the  Judiciary  to  report  a  bill  declaring  it  a  crime  against  the 
United  States  for  any  person  to  aid  or  assist  slaves  to  escape  from  their 
masters  ;  but  he  failed  to  obtain  a  suspension  of  the  rules,  in  order  to 
consider  it. 

Petitions  for  restoring  commercial  relations  with  Hayti,  and  others 
asking  Congress  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  the  Haytien  govern 
ment,  were  presented.  But  these  were  all  laid  on  the  table,  as  they 
were  supposed  to  have  relation  to  the  "  peculiar  institution." 

Other  petitions,  praying  Congress  to  take  measures  for  removing  the 
seat  of  Government  to  some  free  State,  shared  the  common  fate  of  peti 
tions  against  slavery. 

Men  in  the  interest  of  the  institution  now  introduced  the  practice  of 
sending  threatening  letters  to  Mr.  Adams,  informing  him  that  his  death 
was  determined  upon  ;  that  he  was  to  be  seized,  carried  out  of  the  city, 
and  Lynched  ;  dark  intimations  were  often  given  in  the  House,  that  if  he 
were  to  go  South  he  would  not  return.  It  appeared  that  southern  mem 
bers,  and  southern  men,  believed  that  he  could  be  operated  upon  through 
fears  of  personal  violence. 

An  incident  occurred  on  the  30th  January,  illustrating  the  ,1839 
condition  of  the  public  mind  on  the  subject  of  the  slave  trade. 
A  slavedealer  came  from  the  interior  of  Maryland  with  some  thirty 
men,  marching  past  the  Capitol  in  double  files,  each  fastened  by  the  wrist 
to  a  long  chain  passing  between  them  from  front  to  rear.  Next  came 
nearly  as  many  women  in  the  same  order,  but  not  chained.  Many  of 
them  carried  bundles  of  clothing.  These  were  followed  by  a  wagon 
drawn  by  two  mules,  and  containing  the  small  children  of  the  party. 

The  slave  merchant  was  on  horseback,  armed  with  pistols,  bowie- 
knife,  &c.,  and  bearing  in  his  hand  the  "  plantation  whip.77  The  whole 

*  This  scene  was  reproduced  in  a  lithographic  caricature,  which  was  widely  circulated. 


126  QUARKEL   BETWEEN   DUNCAN   AND    STANLEY. 

procession  gave  a  vivid  impression  of  the  barbarism  at  that  time  prac 
tised  at  the  seat  of  Government,  and  upheld  and  encouraged  by  the 
democratic  party  and  by  the  southern  members  of  the  Whig  organiza 
tion.  The  men  and  women  appeared  dejected  and  heartbroken  as  they 
passed  the  Capitol,  and  the  mournful  procession  exhibited  a  heathenism 
apparently  unsuited  to  a  Christian  nation.* 

The  passing  of  this  slave  coffle  by  the  Capitol  of  the  nation  excited 
attention.  Mr.  Slade,  of  Vermont,  offered  resolutions,  reciting  the  facts 
by  way  of  preamble,  and  proposing  to  raise  a  committee  to  ascertain  and 
report  what  legislation  was  necessary  to  prevent  a  recurrence  of  such 
scenes.  The  presentation  of  this  resolution  created  excitement,  but  the 
Speaker  prevented  all  discussion  by  declaring  that  the  resolution  came 
within  the  provisions  of  the  general  rule  adopted  on  motion  of  Mr.  Ath- 
erton,  and  it  was  laid  on  the  table,  and  all  further  exposure  at  that  time 
was  prevented. 

Hon.  Edward  Stanley  was  a  Whig  member  from  the  State  of  North 
Carolina.  He  was  present  when  Mr.  Slade,  who  was  also  a  Whig,  pre 
sented  his  proposition  to  inquire  into  the  slave  trade  ;  but  sat  silently 
attentive  to  passing  events,  and  permitted  the  slave  trade  to  be  assailed. 

Alexander  Duncan,  representing  the  Cincinnati  district  of  Ohio,  now 
charged  the  Whig  party  with  encouraging  abolition.  Stanley,  in  reply, 
read  a  letter  signed  by  Duncan,  addressed  to  the  abolitionists  of  his  dis 
trict  when  a  candidate  for  election,  in  which  he  declared  his  "high 
respect  for  abolitionists." 

Duncan  was  annoyed  and  vexed  at  this  exposure,  and  on  the  follow 
ing  morning  published  a  card  in  the  papers  of  the  city,  stigmatising  Stan 
ley  and  other  Whig  members  as  cowards  for  endeavoring  to  fix  on  him 
the  charge  of  abolition,  and  saying  they  would  not  demand  the  satisfac 
tion  of  gentlemen  for  the  insult. 

On  the  appearance  of  this  article,  S.  S.  Prentiss,  of  Mississippi,  pre 
sented  a  resolution  proposing  to  appoint  a  select  committee  to  inquire  if 
Duncan  was  the  author  of  the  offensive  paragraph,  and  if  so,  to  report 
a  resolution  expelling  him  from  the  House. 

Prentiss  was  distinguished  for  his  rhetorical  powers,  and  on  present 
ing  his  resolution  made  a  characteristic  speech.  Other  members  joined 
in  the  debate,  and  the  day  was  spent  in  efforts  on  the  part  of  Whigs  and 

*  The  author  was  then  a  young  member,  and  this  was  the  first  scene  of  the  kind  which  he  had 
beheld.  It  gave  him  new  views  of  the  Government  under  which  he  lived.  Indeed,  he  looked  upon 
Congress  which  had  authorized  this  traffic,  the  people  who  suffered  its  existence,  the  statesmen  who 
upheld  and  encouraged  it,  in  a  different  light  from  that  in  which  he  had  previously  seen  them. 
TLey  appeared  thrown  back  into  the  darker  ages,  rather  than  existing  in  the  nineteeth  century. 


ME.  CLAY'S  SPEECH  OF  1839.  127 

Democrats  to  fix  upon  each  other  the  odium  of  abolition.  The  debate 
was  cut  short  by  Mr.  Adams,  who  stated  that  he  entertained  doubts  as 
to  the  right  of  the  House  to  deal  with  a  member  for  disorderly  conduct 
outside  the  halls  of  legislation. 

The  popular  feeling  in  Congress  and  throughout  the  country  ran  so 
strongly  against  the  advocates  of  justice  to  the  black  as  well  as  the  white 
race,  that  Mr.  Adams  now  felt  it  his  duty  to  explain  his  views  upon  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  He  stated  that  much 
had  been  said  in  regard  to  his  course  ;  said  he  was  almost  daily  in  receipt 
of  threatening  letters  ;  and  he  felt  it  due  to  the  public  to  say  that  while 
he  had  strenuously  maintained  the  right  of  petition,  yet  he  was  not 
prepared  to  vote  for  emancipation  at  the  seat  of  Government :  on  the 
contrary,  if  the  question  were  then  presented  he  would  vote  against  it. 
He  also  defined  his  object  in  the  course  he  had  pursued  in  regard  to  Mr. 
Stevenson,  our  minister  at  London.* 

The  leaders  of  the  whig  party  were  anxious  to  bring  forward  Mr. 
Clay  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in  the  approaching  canvass  ;  but 
felt  that  it  were  in  vain  for  him  to  aspire  to  that  office  unless  his  posi 
tion  on  the  subject  of  slavery  were  well  defined,  although  he  had  for 
many  years  given  unmistakable  evidence  of  his  devotion  to  the  slave 
interest.  In  his  earlier  life,  while  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Ken 
tucky,  he  had  avowed  his  love  of  liberty  ;  and  that  circumstance  it  was 
thought  would  operate  against  him  unless  he  gave  proof  of  his  present 
adherence  to  southern  interests. 

To  enable  him  to  do  this,  a  petition  was  circulated  in  the  City  of 
Washington,  praying  Congress  to  suppress  all  agitation  in  that  body  in 
regard  to  slavery  and  the  slave  trade. 

The  proposition,  coming .  as  it  did  from  a  people  dependent  on  the 
legislation  of  representatives  from  the  free  as  well  as  slave  States,  was 
regarded  as  an  insult  to  the  thousands  of  northern  memorialists  who 
asked  action  on  the  subject.  But  this  memorial,  with  a  large  number 
of  names,  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Clay,  who  presented  it  to  the 
Senate. 

On  introducing  the  subject,  he  took  occasion  to  speak  of  slavery  in 
the  kindest  terms,  saying  that  two  hundred  years  of  legislation'  had 

*  It  should  lbe  borne  in  mind  that  Mr.  Adams  at  this  time  was  not  supported  in  his  efforts  by  any 
member  except  Mr.  Slade,  who,  though  a  most  conscientious  philanthropist,  and  an  avowed  advo 
cate  of  liberty,  was  not  well  calculated  to  defend  his  aged  associate  amid  the  raging  elements  which 
often  surrounded  him.  Mr.  Adams  was  at  that  time  more  than  seventy  years  of  age,  and  although 
remarkable  for  his  vigor  of  body  and  intellect,  he  must  have  felt  something  of  that  lassitude  which  ia 
ever  attendant  upon  the  decline  of  life.  The  author  had  served  but  a  few  weeks  in  Congress,  and 
felt  entirely  incompetent  to  lend  ;tny  assistance  to  older  members. 


128  ME.    MOKRIS   CONFRONTS    MK.    CLAY. 

"  sanctioned  and  sanctified  it,"  and  declaring  "  that  is  property  which  the 
law  makes  property,7'  and  assailed  the  abolitionists  with  more  severity 
than  he  was  accustomed  to  use.* 

The  speech  drew  from  Mr.  Calhoun  complimentary  remarks  at  the 
close,  and  it  appeared  in  the  "  National  Intelligencer  "  the  next  morn 
ing.  •  It  gave  offence  to  the  Quaker  population,  and  to  the  abolitionists 
of  the  free  States  generally,  and  proved  to  be  literally  the  unfortunate 
speech  of  his  life. 

The  second  day  after  Mr.  Clay  had  spoken,  Mr.  Morris,  of  Ohio, 
replied  to  him.  This  gentleman  was  a  Democrat,  had  been  reared  upon 
the  frontier,  was  indebted  to  his  own  industry  and  self-culture  for  his 
position.  A  man  of  strong  native  intellect,  he  always  spoke  his  own 
honest  convictions  without  offence. 

On  presenting  a  large  number  of  memorials  for  the  abolition  of  the 
coastwise  slave  trade,  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  and  in  the  Territories,  he  replied  at  length  to 
Mr.  Clay.  He  declared  his  high  respect  for  the  friends  of  liberty  who 
were  seeking  to  abolish  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  where  Congress  held 
the  constitutional  power,  and  frankly  avowed  himself  in  full  sympathy 
with  them.  He  exhibited  the  unjust  and  unconstitutional  mode  of 
entombing  in  silence  and  forgetfulness  petitions,  which  the  Senate 
ought  to  consider  and  promptly  to  act  upon. 

This  was  the  first  speech  in  favor  of  constitutional  liberty  made  in 
the  Senate  for  many  years.  Mr.  Morris  had  long  been  a  leading  mem 
ber  of  the  democratic  party  of  Ohio  ;  but  this  speech  forfeited  the  con 
fidence  of  his  political  supporters,  who  regarded  devotion  to  slavery  as 
the  highest  policy  which  the  party  could  adopt ;  while  .many  leading 
men  believed  the  speech  of  Mr.  Clay  excluded  him  from  the  Presidential 
chair.  It  is  certain  that  nearly  every  slave  State  was  democratic  in 
character,  as  the  term  "Democracy"  was  then  understood.  While 

*  The  author,  learning  the  character  of  the  speech,  at  once  addressed  a  note  to  Mr.  Clay,  asking 
in  kind  and  respectful  language,  whether  that  gentleman  intended  to  discard  the  abolitionists  from 
his  support  in  the  coming  Presidential  election?  The  note  was  written  under  some  degree  of  feel- 
Ing.  Mr.  Clay  did  not  send  an  answer  in  writing,  but  came  in  person  to  see  the  writer.  He  had 
been  told  that  I  was  an  active  politician,  wielding  some  influence  in  my  State,  and  he  assured  me 
that  he  desired  to  obtain  the  most  general  support  of  the  people,  and  stated  that  northern  Whigs 
Lad  desired  him  to  denounce  the  abolitionists.  I  assured  him  that  the  abolitionists  were  honest  and 
correct  in  regard  to  slavery  ;  that  the  public  conscience  of  the  North  was  with  them  :  that  the  only 
circumstance  that  would  induce  them  to  sustain  him  wa?  his  early  devotion  to  liberty  :  that  those 
doctrines  lay  near  my  own  heart,  and  I  could  not  conscientiously  support  any  man  who  denied 
them.  Mr.  Clay  replied  kindly  and  seriously,  declaring  that  my  reasoning  was  sound,  said  that  he 
should  revise  his  speech  before  it  went  to  press,  and  would  modify  the  language,  so  far  as  he  could 
with  propriety,  before  it  appeared  in  print. 

The  writer  believes  that  no  act  of  his  life  gave  Mr.  Clay  so  much  confidence  in  him  as  this  note 
and  the  conversation  which  followed. 


VERMONT  INSULTED.  129 

almost  the  entire  strength  of  the  whig  party  lay  in  the  free  States.  It 
is  also  certain  that  every  effort  to  strengthen  the  Whigs  in  the  South 
lost  some  portion  of  their  moral  and  political  power  in  the  North  ; 
while  all  attempts  to  gain  influence  with  the  friends  of  liberty,  excluded 
such  statesmen  from  southern  confidence.  In  this  position  of  parties,  it 
was  supposed  to  be  the  interest  of  all  mere  partisans  to  say  as  little  as 
possible  on  the  subject  of  oppression.  And  it  was  understood  that  those 
members  who  insisted  upon  the  right  of  petition  or  the  freedom  of  debate, 
or  asserted  the  doctrine  of  man's  inalienable  rights,  could  not  expect  the 
support  of  either  the  whig  or  democratic  organizations. 

The  Legislature  of  Yermont,  feeling  the  wrongs  to  which  the  northern 
States  were  subjected,  passed  resolutions  instructing  her  Senators,  and 
requesting  her  Representatives  to  oppose  the  passage  of  any  law  for  the 
annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States,  and  to  use  their  influence  to 
abolish  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  upon  our 
southern  coast,  and  in  our  Territories.  Mr.  Prentiss  presented  these 
resolutions  to  the  Senate,  and  made  the  usual  motion  to  print  them. 
This  respect  had  always  been  awarded  to  the  resolves  of  sovereign 
States  ;  but  the  Senate  hesitated  on  this  occasion. 

Mr.  Calhoun  seemed  unusually  excited  by  this  manifestation  of 
northern  independence.  He  declared  his  perfect  astonishment  that  the 
people  of  Yermont  did  not  see  that  this  question  struck  at  the  very 
foundation  of  the  Union.  Other  Senators  also  assailed  the  Legislature 
and  people  of  Yermont  in  offensive  language,  and  Mr.  Lumpkin,  of 
Georgia,  moved  to  lay  the  motion  to  print  on  the  table. 

This  motion  was  sustained  by  29  to  8.  Messrs.  Swift  and  Prentiss, 
of  Yermont.;  Knight  and  Robbins,  of  Rhode  Island  ;  Davis,  of  Massa 
chusetts  ;  McKean,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Morris,  of  Ohio,  and  Smith,  of 
Indiana,  constituting  the  negative  :  while  Messrs.  Pearce  and  Hubbard, 
of  New  Hampshire  ;  Smith,  of  Connecticut  ;  Wright,  of  New  York  ; 
Southard,  of  New  Jersey;  Buchanan,  of  Pennsylvania  :  Allen,  of  Ohio  ; 
Tipton,  of  Indiana ;  Robinson  and  Young,  of  Illinois,  voted  with  the 
slaveholders  ;  and  Messrs.  Ruggles  and  Williams,  of  Maine  ;  Webster, 
of  Massachusetts  ;  Niles,  of  Connecticut ;  Tallinadge,  of  New  York, 
and  Wall,  of  New  Jersey,  neglected  to  vote. 

This  was  the  first  instance  in  our  history  that  such  an  insult  had  been 
offered  to  the  people  of  a  sovereign  State,  and  in  its  perpetration  ten 
Senators  from  free  States  participated,  and  six  others  were  too  indif 
ferent  to  northern  rights  and  northern  honor,  or  too  fearful  of  southern 
frowns,  to  interpose  their  voices  in  favor  of  freedom. 

As  southern  statesmen  endeavored  to  suppress  the  right  of  petition, 

9 


130  ASSAULT   UPON  THE   SLAVE   TEADE. 

the  people  increased  the  number  of  memorials,  until  they  became  a  bur 
den  to  the  members  who  were  willing  to  present  them,  and  Mr.  Adams 
publicly  declared  that  he  had  six  hundred  in  his  drawer  awaiting  pre 
sentation. 

1839  .j  On  the  4th  of  February,  Hon.  Eli  Moore,  of  New  York,  pre 
sented  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  memorial  numerously 
signed  by  the  people  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  asking  Congress  to 
exclude  from  consideration  all  petitions  and  memorials  from  the  people 
of  any  State  praying  the  abolition  of  slavery  or  the  slave  trade  in  said 
District.  Mr.  Moore  made  a  characteristic  speech,  arguing  that  the 
people  there  had  the  right  to  continue  the  slave  trade  and  slavery  in  the 
District  without  interruption  by  the  people  of  the  free  States.  Some 
members  now  began  to  feel  the  despotism  to  which  they  were  subjected. 
They  were  constrained  to  sit  in  silence  and  hear  their  constituents 
assailed  and  slandered,  but  were  not  permitted  to  reply. 

On  the  13th  of  February,  the  House,  while  in  Committee  of  the 
Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union,  took  up  for  consideration  a  bill  appro 
priating  $30,000  for  building  a  bridge  across  the  eastern  branch  of  the 
Potomac,  within  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  object  was  to  benefit 
the  people  of  Washington  City  particularly,  and  those  of  the  District 
generally. 

Mr.  Giddings  now  moved  to  strike  out  the  enacting  clause  of  the  bill, 
and  the  motion  being  stated,  he  proceeded'  to  declare  his  opposition  to 
any  appropriation  of  public  treasure  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of  that 
District,  so  long  as  they  maintained  a  commerce  in  the  bodies  of  their 
fellow-men.  They  had  but  a  few  days  previously  asked  Congress  to 
exclude  from  consideration  all  petitions  from  the  people  of  the  free 
States  on  the  subject  of  this  commerce,  and  he  declared  himself  unwilling 
to  repay  such  insults  to  his  constituents  by'  taxing  them  to  build  up  a 
slave  market.  The  members  had  recently  enjoyed  an  opportunity  to 
judge  of  the  barbarism  of  this  slave  trade.  While  coming  to  the  capital, 
they  had  been  compelled  to  turn  aside,  to  make  room  for  the  passage  of 
a  herd  of  human  chattels,  chained,  and  on  their  way  to  the  slave 
market. 

A  sensation  now  ran  through  the  hall.  The  writer  was  then  a  young 
member,  having  served  scarcely  sixty  days,  and  was  not  expected  to 
assail  the  action  of  a  majority.  Mr.  Rives,  of  Virginia,  called  him  to 
order.  Mr.  Giddings  stated  that  he  was  merely  assigning  his  reasons 
for  the  motion  which  he  had  made. 

The  chairman,  Mr.  Rencher,  of  North  Carolina,  a  slaveholder,  decided 
that  he  was  in  order  ;  and  he  proceeded  to  say  that  while  the  people  of 


EXCITEMENT   IN    THE   HOUSE   OF   PwEPEESENTATIVES.  131 

the  free  States  were  thus  insulted,  they  would  not  forget  their  own  self- 
respect  so  far  as  to  approve  the  appropriation  now  proposed.  At  this 
point,  he  was  again  called  to  order,  end  again  the  chairman  decided 
that  he  was  in  order  ;  and  he  continued  saying  that  all  northern  mem 
bers  were  willing  and  anxious  to  beautify  and  adorn  the  city,  to  estab 
lish  schools,  and  such  a  system  of  education  as  would  render  it  worthy 
of  a  free  nation,  when 

Mr  Williams,  of  Tennessee,  called  him  to  order  ;  but  the  chairman 
again  decided  that  he  was  in  order. 

The  excitement  had  now  increased,  and  great  disorder  was  manifested 
in  various  parts  of  the  hall,  and  before  order  was  so  far  restored  as  to 
enable  him  to  proceed,  Mr.  Howard,  of  Maryland,  interposed  a  ques 
tion.  The  chairman  required  him  to  reduce  his  question  to  writing.  Mr. 
Howard  insisted  that  the  rules  of  the  House  did  not  require  him  to 
do  so.  The  chairman  decided  that  they  did  require  it.  Mr.  Howard 
appealed. 

In  arguing  the  appeal,  Mr.  Glasscock,  of  Georgia,  insisted  that  if  such 
arguments  as  the  writer  had  used  were  permitted,  the  Union  would  be 
dissolved.  To  which  Mr.  Giddings  replied  that  the  inference  to  be 
drawn  from  such  threats,  was  that  the  Union  was  based  upon  the  slave 
trade.  To  which  Mr.  Glasscock  rejoined  in  an  undertone,  and  in  language 
more  vulgar  than  statesmanlike,  saying,  "you  are  a  d — d  liar" 

The  excitement  increased.  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Slade  came  to  the 
assistance  of  Mr.  Giddings  ;  but  the  chairman  appeared  to  be  alarmed, 
and  at  length  decided  that  Mr.  Giddings  was  out  of  order,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  resume  his  seat. 

But  the  motion  to  strike  out  the  enacting  clause  of  the  bill  was 
earned,  and  the  bill  was  defeated.  The  success  of  the  motion  consti 
tuted  a  rebuke  to  the  slavedealers,  and  created  much  feeling  through 
out  the  city. 

In  the  papers  of  the  next  day  the  author  was  assailed,  and  one  writer 
declared  that  the  vote  defeating  the  bill  had  depreciated  the  price  of  real 
estate  in  the  city.  Mr.  Putnam,  of  New  York,  replied  to  these  attacks 
through  the  papers,  and  there  the  subject  rested. 

As  the  cession  drew  to  a  close,  Mr.  Cambrelling,  of  New  York, 
moved  a  resolution,  authorizing  each  member  to  lay  such  petitions  as  he 
had  in  his  possession  on  the  table,  and  making  it  the  duty  of  the  Clerk 
to  file  and  deposit  them  in  their  appropriate  place  in  his  office.  This 
proposition  was  adopted. 

On  the  25th  February,  Mr.  Adams  asked  a  suspension  of  the  rules, 
for  the  purpose  of  laying  before  the  members  a  proposition  so  to  amend 


133  AMENDMENT   OF   CONSTITUTION   PROPOSED. 

the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  to  abolish  slavery  in  all  the 
States  after  the  4th  July,  A.D.  1842,  and  providing  there  shall  be 
neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
after  the  4th  July,  1845.  He  stated  that  this  proposition  was  based 
upon  the  petition  of  John  Jay  and  forty-three  other  citizens  of  New- 
York.  But  the  House  refused  to  suspend  the  rules,  and  the  motion  was 
not  received. 


LEADING   CHARACTERISTIC   OF  TWENTY-SIXTH  CONGRESS.      133 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FURTHER  EFFORTS  TO  INVOLVE  THE  BRITISH  GOVERNMENT  IN  THE  SUPPORT 
OF  THE  SLAVE  TRADE — THE  NATURAL  RIGHT  OP  AFRICANS  TO  LIFE  AND 
LIBERTY  SUSTAINED  BY  THE  JUDICIAL  BRANCH  OF  GOVERNMENT — THE 
SECOND  SEMINOLE  WAR. 

THE  leading  characteristic  of  the  twenty-sixth  Congress  was  an  ,1889 
entire  devotion  to  political  parties.  Every  member  was  supposed 
to  belong  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  political  organizations,  for 
which  he  was  expected  to  labor,  and  argue,  and  vote.  No  individual 
was  authorized  by  them  to  avow  any  doctrine  or  political  principle  until 
it  had  been  examined  and  approved  in  caucus.  The  democratic  party 
were  in  power  in  all  branches  of  the  Government,  and  had  long  been  in 
power.  All  bills  were  at  that  time  suggested  by  the  Executive  or  sub 
mitted  to  the  heads  of  departments  for  approval  prior  to  being  placed 
before  either  branch  of  Congress,  and  nearly  every  measure  was  supposed 
to  contain  some  provision  favorable  to  the  party  in  power. 

The  ruling  spirits  of  both  parties  were  slaveholders.  Mr.  Clay  was 
the  favorite  of  the  Whigs.  Mr.  Webster  was  also  held  in  high  respect, 
though  it  was  impossible  for  any  man  who  submitted  so  quietly  to  the 
dictation  of  slavery  as  Mr.  Webster,  to  command  that  influence  which 
was  necessary  to  constitute  a  successful  politician. 

Mr.  Calhoun  was  the  object  of  political  idolatry  in  South  Carolina, 
and  wielded  more  influence  than  any  other  statesman  of  the  nation  ;  but 
his  doctrines  in  regard  to  "  secession,"  or  as  they  were  usually  called, 
"  nullification,"  had  brought  him  in  conflict  with  General  Jackson,  and 
thereby  ruined  his  prospects  for  the  presidency.  Yet  he  appeared  to 
cherish  the  hope  of  reaching  that  high  office  at  some  time  in  the  future. 

On  the  subject  of  slavery  and  every  collateral  question  connected  with 
that  institution,  the  entire  South  acted  as  a  unit,  while  on  other  subjects 
they  were  divided.  The  northern  members  of  both  parties  felt  entirely 
dependent  upon  their  southern  friends,  who  dictated  all  movements  of 
their  respective  organizations. 

Mr.  Adams  had  attained  a  position  which  forbade  Jiim  to  look  to  any 
party  as  a  guide  to  his  conduct.  Mr.  Slade,  of  Vermont,  was  a  Whig, 
had  held  office  in  the  State  Department  under  Mr.  Clay  during  the  ad 
ministration  of  Mr.  Adams,  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  his  party,  but 


134  MEMBERS   OPPOSED  TO   SLAVERY. 

entertained  a  sense  of  justice,  a  love  of  liberty  altogether  too  strong  to 
obey  the  dictation  of  slaveholders.  He  acted  with  Mr.  Adams  gene 
rally  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 

The  author  of  this  work  had  served  only  one  session,  and  at  the  time 
of  which  we  are  speaking,  was  regarded  as  a  Whig  of  somewhat  doubt 
ful  character,  in  consequence  of  the  motion  relative  to  the  slave  trade 
which  he  made  at  the  last  session  and  his  remarks  thereon. 

Another  member  now  entered  Congress  as  an  acknowledged  and  avowed 
supporter  of  human  rights.  Hon.  Seth  M.  Gates,  of  Gencsee  County, 
New  York,  was  a  lawyer  of  fair  reputation,  of  high  moral  character, 
an  active,  industrious  supporter  of  what  he  believed  right.  He  was  a 
most  devoted  Christian  and  philanthropist,  never  faltering  in  what  he 
regarded  the  performance  of  duty. 

These  four  members  stood  aloof  from  political  parties  whenever  subjects 
involving  moral  principle  were  agitated  or.  the  rights  of  humanity  were 
in  issue.  Many  northern  Whigs  sympathized  with  them,  but  the  writer 
is  not  aware  that  any  other  member  was  willing  to  vote  against  his  party 
on  any  question  touching  slavery.  The  author  was  perhaps  as  strongly 
opposed  to  slavery  as  either  of  the  gentlemen  referred  to,  and  felt  as 
deeply  humiliated  by  the  despotism  to  which  members  of  Congress  were 
subjected,  but  as  yet  he  had  formed  in  his  own  mind  no  definite  course 
of  action  for  himself  further  than  a  general  opposition  to  slavery.  There 
were  also  in  the  country  many  abolition  societies.  They  urged  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  general  terms,  but  proposed  no  definite  plan  of 
operations. 

This  was  the  state  of  the  slave  question  at  the  opening  of  the 
twenty-sixth  Congress,  which  was  distinguished  first  by  the  great 
contest  in  regard  to  the  delegation  from  New  Jersey  ;  and  secondly,  it 
inaugurated  a  systematic  and  determined  energy  in  the  presidential  can 
vass  which  had  never  been  known  before.  These  measures  so  absorbed 
the  public  mind  that  little  attention  was  paid  to  the  subject  of  slavery. 

Soon  as  the  committees  of  the  House  were  announced,  however,  Mr. 
Wise  moved  a  resolution  declaring  that  whenever  any  petition,  resolution, 
or  paper  should  be  presented  touching  the  abolition  of  slavery,  or  the 
slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in  the  Territories  of  the  United 
States,  the  question  of  reception  shall  be  made,  and  that  question  laid 
on  the  table. 

Mr.  Wise  was  a  Whig,  and  was  evidently  anxious  to  relieve  northern 
Whigs  from  the  charge  of  complicity  with  abolitionists. 

Mr.  Adams  opposed  the  measure,  and  most  of  the  northern  Whigs 
voted  against  it.  It  was  subjected  to  some  little  modification,  but  after 


DETERIORATION   OF  PUBLIC   MORALS.  135 

much  resistance  and  many  propositions  to  amend,  was  adopted  by  the 
House. 

The  general  historian  will  find  much  to  interest  the  reader  in  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  twenty-sixth  Congress.  At  no  period  of  our  Govern 
ment,  has  the  morality  of  our  public  men  sunk  so  low,  or  frauds  and  pec 
ulations  appeared  so  common  :  indeed,  the  doctrine  introduced  in  the 
Senate  in  1817,  by  Mr.  Smith,  of  South  Carolina,  "that  governments 
are  not  bound  by  moral  law,"  had  been  publicly  maintained  by  Mr.  Cal- 
houn,  and  supported  by  every  adherent  of  slavery,  and  its  results  were 
now  manifested  in  its  practical  operations  in  all  department*  of  the 
Government. 

Leading  Democrats,  in  order  to  gain  political  power,  charged  the 
Whigs  with  favoring  abolitionists  ;  insisting  that  the  only  abolitionists 
who  were  members  of  Congress  were  also  Whigs  ;  and  resolutions,  votes, 
and  proceedings  of  democratic  meetings  held  in  various  parts  of  the 
country  were  read  as  evidence  that  the  whig  party  favored  the  doctrines 
of  freedom. 

To  counteract  these  efforts,  Mr.  Clay,  in  a  public  speech  delivered  in 
the  Senate,  avowed  his  satisfaction  that  certain  pro-slavery  publications 
had  been  put  forth  exposing  the  fallacy  of  abolition,  and  he  named  "  A 
Review  of  Dr.  Channing's  Opinion  of  Slavery,"  "Abolition  a  Sedition," 
"Thoughts  on  Domestic  Slavery;"  all  of  them  he  regarded  as  able  works, 
and  commended  them  to  public  favor. 

Mr.  Calhoun  again  complimented  Mr.  Clay  and  congratulated  the 
country  upon  the  prospect  that  quiet  in  regard  to  slavery  would  soon  be 
restored  to  the  country.  But  thereupon,  another  debate  arose  as  to  the 
best  mode  of  deceiving  petitioners  in  regard  to  memorals.  Mr.  Buchanan 
still  insisting  that  the  better  plan  would  be  to  present  the  petitions,  and 
then  move  that  the  prayer  be  not  granted  ;  but  no  member  proposed  to 
refer  the  petitions  and  grant  the  prayer,  or  state  the  reasons  why  it  ought 
not  to  be  granted,  in  the  language  of  kindness  and  respect. 

The  Florida  war  was  yet  in  progress.  It  was  found  very  difficult  to 
capture  the  negroes,  and  as  that  object  constituted  the  main  stimulus  for 
its  prosecution,  those  most  Deeply  interested  suggested  the  propriety  of 
sending  to  Cuba  for  bloodhounds  trained  to  the  business  of  hunting 
slaves. 

The  Executive  appeared  to  hesitate  as  to  adopting  so  barbarous  a 
mode  of  warfare,  even  towards  Africans.  But  while  the  Executive  hesi 
tated,  the  Legislature  of  Florida  made  an  appropriation,  sent  an  agent 
to  Cuba,  obtained  some  thirty  bloodhounds,  with  Spaniards  to  attend 
and  train  them.  When  the  animals  were  obtained,  tiic  United  States 


136  BLOODHOUNDS    USED   TO    CAPTURE   NEGKOES. 

authorities  took  charge  of  them,  and  the  funds  of  the  nation  were  appro- 
^  priated  to  defray  the  expense,  and  the  troops  of  the  United  States  were 
"  now  called  to  act  upon  the  field  in  company  with  piratical  Spaniards, 
professed  negro-catchers,  and  bloodhounds. 

The  Whigs,,  learning  these  facts,  now  charged  the  Administration  and 
democratic  party  with  the  odium  of  this  barbarous  outrage  upon  the 
civilization  of  the  age. 

Petitions  were  also  sent  to  the  Senate  protesting  against  the  use  of 
bloodhounds  for  the  murder  of  innocent  people.  These  assaults  were 
keenly  fek  by  slaveholding  Senators,  who  declared  the  Administration 
was  entirely  unconnected  with  the  transaction  and  in  no  degree  respon 
sible  for  it.  The  petitions  were  referred. to  the  Committee  on  Military 
Affairs,  of  which  Col.  Benton  was  chairman.  He  called  on  Mr.  Poinsett, 
Secretary  of  War,  for  information.  That  officer  was  from  South  Carolina, 
a  slaveholder,  and  accustomed  to  speaking  boldly  on  all  subjects  touching 
slavery.  He  admitted  the  employment  of  the  bloodhounds  by  the  United 
States,  and  attempted  to  justify  the  policy.  The  subject  attracted  atten 
tion  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  was  noticed  very  generally  by 
the  public  press.  On  all  hands  the  Whigs  assailed  the  democratic  party 
with  having  employed  bloodhounds  to  prosecute  the  Florida  war. 
18401  But  while  Mr.  Calhoun  and  the  democratic  party  and  south 
ern  Whigs  had  long  deprecated  all  agitation  of  the  subject  of 
slavery  in  either  House  of  Congress,  it  was  now  found  important  to 
obtain  further  positive  action  in  favor  of  the  coastwise  slave  trade, 
Having  directed  the  energies  of  our  own  Government  to  the  support  of 
slavery,  Mr.  Calhoun  now  put  forth  an  attempt  to  constrain  the  British 
Ministry  to  acknowledge  that  worse  than  infidel  dogma,  that  human  beings 
may  by  legislative  enactment  be  transformed  into  property.  The  occasion 
of  this  effort  arose  as  follows  : 

In  the  year  1835,  the  domestic  slave  trade  having  become  profitable, 
a  few  individuals  in  the  City  of  Washington,  desirous  of  sharing  in  the 
profits  arising  from  that  commerce,  built  a  ship  for  the  purpose  of  em 
ploying  it  in  the  transportation  of  slaves  "from  the  District  of  Columbia 
to  New  Orleans  and  other  ports  far  south" 

The  ship  was  called  the  "  Enterprise,"  and  cleared  from  the  port  of 
Alexandria  on  the  22d  January,  1835,  for  the  port  of  Charleston,  with 
a  cargo  of  slaves  collected  principally  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and 
it  being  her  first  trip  her  owners  went  with  her  in  order  to  inform  them 
selves  more  particularly  in  regard  to  the  vocation  on  which  they  had 
entered. 

Encountering  severe  storms,  the  ship  was  driven  out  of  her  course,  and 


DEMAND   FOK    SHIPWRECKED    SLAVES.  137 

having  suffered  severely  in  her  rigging,  put  into  Port  Hamilton,  Bermu 
da,  for  repairs. 

For  a  century  it  had  been  regarded  as  the  settled  law  of  nations  that 
the  jurisdiction  of  every  independent  government  was  co-extensive  with 
its  own  territory,  reaching  a  marine  league  into  the  sea.  If  .a  ship  came 
into  the  port  of  another  nation,  she  was  boarded  by  the  health  officer  of 
the  port  long  before  reaching  shore  ;  licensed  pilots  and  revenue  officers 
entered  on  board  ;  they  called  for  bills  of  health,  manifests  and  informa 
tion  as  to  her  cargo  and  the  health  of  her  people,  and  the  persons  on 
board  were  amenable  to  the  local  laws.  Such  was  the  case  with  the 
slaves  on  board  the  "  Enterprise "  when  they  entered  Port  Hamilton. 
They  were  no  longer  subjected  to  the  American  law  of  slavery,  but 
were  under  the  protection  of  British  laws,  they  therefore  went  on  shore 
in  pursuit  of  their  own  happiness. 

The  captain  demanded  of  the  local  authorities  assistance  to  hold 
them  in  bondage  ;  but  British  laws  recognizing  no  distinction  between- 
masters  and  slaves,  disregarded  the  captain's  demand,  and  the  slave 
merchants,  disappointed  at  the  loss  of  their  human  chattels,  returned  to 
Washington  City,  indignant  that  the  laws  of  England  should  have  thus 
interfered  with  their  anticipated  speculations  in  human  flesh. 

They  laid  their  complaints  before  General  Jackson,  at  that  time  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States.  He  at  once  espoused  their  cause,  and 
through  the  Secretary  of  IState  demanded  of  the  British  Government  a 
compensation  for  the  loss. 

To  this  demand  the  British  minister  replied  :  That  by  the  law  of 
nations,  the  ship  on  entering  Port  Hamilton  became  subject  to  British 
laws.  That  there  were  three,  parties  to  the  transaction.  1,  The  slave- 
dealers  ;  2,  The  British  authorities  ;  and  3,  The  slaves,  who  demanded 
their  liberty.  There  was  in  that  port  no  law  of  slavery,  and  no  British 
officer  could  recognize  the  right  of  one  man  to  hold  another  as  property. 

This  argument  of  the  British  Ministry  was  based  upon  the .  principle 
that  the  slave  trade  was  barbarous,  and  not  to  be  encouraged  by  Chris 
tian  nations.  This  reflection  was  felt  more  keenly  for  its  truth  ;  and 
the  assertion  that  men  could  not  hold  men  as  property  seemed  to  charac 
terize  slavery  as  an  acknowledged  despotism.  It  was,  however,  a  reas- 
sertion  of  the  doctrine  on  which  our  Government  had  been  founded  ;  for 
the  overthrow  of  which  the  advocates  of  human  bondage  had  labored 
long  and  ardently. 

Stung  by  the  reflection  thus  cast  upon  the  institution,  Mr.  Calhoun 
presented  to  the  Senate  three  propositions,  as  he  said,  declaratory  of  the 
law  of  nations. 


138  ME.  CAEHOUN'S  PROPOSITIONS. 

The  first  asserted  that,  "  a  ship  or  vessel  on  the  high  seas  in  time  of 
peace,  engaged  in  a  lawful  voyage,  is  by  the  law  of  nations  under  the 
exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  state  to  which  her  flag  belongs." 

The  second  declared  that,  "  should  such  a  ship  be  forced  by  stress  of 
weather,  or  other  unavoidable  accident,  into  a  friendly  port,  she  would 
lose  none  of  the  rights  pertaining  to  her  on  the  high  seas.  On  the  con 
trary,  she  and  her  cargo  and  the  persons  on  board,  with  their  property, 
and  all  the  rights  belonging  to  their  personal  relations  as  established  by 
the  laws  of  the  state  to  which  they  belong,  would  be  under  the  protec 
tion  which  the  law  of  nation  extends  to  the  unfortunate  under  such 
circumstances." 

The  third  asserted,  "  that  the  brig  *  Enterprise,'  which  was  unavoid 
ably  forced  by  stress  of  weather  into  Port  Hamilton,  Bermuda,  while  on 
a  lawful  voyage  on  the  high  seas,  from  one  port  of  the  United  States  to 
another,  comes  within  the  principles  of  the  foregoing  resolution,  and  that 
the  seizure  and  detention  of  the  negroes  by  the  local  authorities  of  that 
island  was  an  act  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  nations,  and  highly  unjust  to 
our  citizens  to  whom  they  belonged." 

1840 ,  The  advocates  of  human  bondage  seldom  mentioned  the  word 
"  slave,"  or  "  slave  trade."  Neither  was  used  in  these  resolu 
tions  ;  but  Mr.  Calhoun  and  other  Senators  assumed  that  a  ship  engaged 
in  the  coastwise  slave  trade  was  pursuing  a  lawful  voyage :  that  she  car 
ried  with  her  the  laws  of  the  state  from  whence  she  sailed  while  upon 
the  high  seas,  and  when  constrained  through  stress  of  weather  to  enter 
a  friendly  port,  she  carried  those  laws  with  her,  and  while  in  such  port 
the  master  enjoyed  all  the  rights  of  buying  and  selling,  of  chastising, 
and  in  case  of  resistance,  of  slaying  his  slaves,  however  repugnant  those 
acts  may  be  to  the  laws  or  the  government  into  whose  jurisdiction  the 
ship  may  have  entered. 

These  propositions  were  sustained  by  Messrs.  Calhoun,  Grundy,  of 
Tennessee,  and  King,  of  Alabama.  They  were  then  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  ;  and  after  a  few  days,  reported  back  to 
the  Senate  by  Mr.  Buchanan. 

They  were  again  advocated  by  Mr.  Calhoun,  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Ben- 
ton,  and  opposed  by  Mr.  Porter,  of  Michigan.  This  gentleman  had  but 
just  taken  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  a  man  of 
high  moral  character,  but  possessing  no  distinction  as  a  statesman.  He 
had  not  even  looked  into  this  particular  subject  until  it  was  presented,  and 
the  resolutions  were  supported  by  the  most  distinguished  Senators  of  the 
nation.  He  now  looked  around  him,  and  saw  that  Webster,  and  Davis, 
and  Wright  were  silent.  Obeying  the  dictates  of  his  own  judgment  and 


ATTEMPT   TO   CHANGE   THE   LAW    OF   NATIONS.  139 

conscience,  he  heroically  met  the  overwhelming  influence  arrayed  against 
him,  and  showed  the  most  cogent  reasons  for  rejecting  the  resolutions, 
by  exhibiting  the  absurdity  of  an  attempt  to  change  the  law  of  nations 
by  senatorial  resolutions  ;  and  the  yet  greater  absurdity  of  the  attempt 
to  induce  the  British  Government  to  acknowledge  the  laws  of  slavery 
and  of  the  slave  trade  to  exist  and  be  in  force  within  her  ports. 

Mr.  Porter  concluded  his  remarks  by  moving  to  lay  the  resolutions  of 
Mr.  Calhoun  on  the  table,  and  boldly  demanded  the  yeas  and  nays  on 
the  question.  And  on  the  roll  being  called  he  alone  voted  in  favor  of 
his  motion  :  while  every  Senator  from  the  slave  States  and  Messrs. 
Allen  and  Tappan,  of  Ohio  ;  Buchanan  and  Sturgeon,  of  Pennsylvania  ; 
Dixon,  of  Rhode  Island  ;  Hubbard  and  Pierce,  of  New  Hampshire  ; 
Robinson  and  Young,  of  Illinois  ;  Williams,  of  Maine,  and  his  colleague, 
Norvell,  voted  with  the  slaveholders  :  and  Messrs.  Webster  and  Davis, 
of  Massachusetts  ;  Southard  and  Wall,  of  New  Jersey  ;  Wright  and 
Tallrnadge,  of  New  York  ;  Ruggles,  of  Maine  ;  Smith  and  White,  of 
Indiana,  and  Knight,  of  Rhode  Island,  declined  voting,  apparently  un 
willing  to  take  position  either  in  favor  or  against  the  resolutions.  The 
Senate  was  divided  as  follows  :  for  the  resolutions,  33  ;  against  them,  1. 
Neither  for  nor  against  them,  10  ;  one  vacancy  and  five  absent.  The 
resolutions  were  then  adopted  by  33  yeas.  None  voting  in  the 
negative. 

The  adoption  of  these  resolutions  constituted  the  first  attempt  to  con 
strain  foreign  governments  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  slavery. 

Another  effort  was  made  during  the  twenty-sixth  Congress  to  render 
our  free  States  more  entirely  subsidiary  to  the  institution. 

In  May,  1837,  the  captain  of  the  ship  "  Boston"  of  Maine,  from 
Georgia,  homeward  bound,  after  being  some  thirty  hours  at  sea,  found  a 
colored  man  on  board,  who  being  landed  in  Maine,  continued  his  journey 
to  Canada,  where  under  British  laws  he  became  free. 

These  facts  being  known,  the  Governor  of  Georgia  demanded  the 
captain  as  a  fugitive  from  justice,  charged  with  "  stealing  a  slave."  No 
such  crime  being  known  to  the  laws  of  Maine,  the  Governor  of  that 
State  refused  to  surrender  him. 

The  Governor  of  Georgia,  apparently  indignant  at  the  people  of  Maine 
for  treating  slaves  as  persons,  and  not  subjects  of  larceny,  transmitted  a 
message  to  the  Legislature  of  his  State  setting  forth  the  facts  stated. 

The  Legislature  adopted  strong  resolutions  calling  on  Congress  to 
amend  the  law  in  regard  to  fugitives  from  justice  so  as  to  require  the 
surrender  of  persons  charged  with  stealing  slaves. 

Mr.  Lumpkin,  of  Georgia,  presented  these  resolutions  and  sustained 


140  RESOLUTIONS   TOUCHING   BLOODHOUNDS. 

them  by  an  elaborate  argument,  as  did  his  colleague,  Mr.  Cuthbert,  and 
the  resolutions  were  sent  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  where  they 
were  buried  in  silence,  the  committee  deeming  it  improper  to  agitate 
that  question  in  the  then  excited  state  of  the  public  mind. 

While  these  efforts  of  the  slaveholders  were  being  put  forth  in  the 
Senate,  Mr.  Rhett,  of  South  Carolina,  presented  to  the  House  of  Repre- 
^sentatives  resolutions  instructing  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  to 
inquire  into  the  circumstances  under  which  the  slaves  on  board  the  brig 
"  Enterprise  "  were  taken  from  their  masters  in  Port  Hamilton,  Bermuda  ? 

The  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table  and  never  called  up  for  con 
sideration. 

1840 ,  The  freedom  of  debate  in  the  House  of  Representatives  at  the 
period  of  which  we  are  writing,  was  entirely  suppressed  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  and  members  often  resorted  to  the  practice  of  embody 
ing  the  substance  of  what  they  wished  to  say  in  resolutions  which  they 
presented  to  the  House. 

On  the  9th  March,  Mr.  Adams  introduced  a  resolve  of  that  charac 
ter,  as  follows  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  War  be  directed  to  report  to  this 
House  the  natural,  political,  and  martial  history  of  the  bloodhounds ; 
showing  the  peculiar  fitness  of  that  class  of  warriors  to  be  the  associates 
of  the  gallant  army  of  the  United  States  ;  showing  the  nice  discrimina 
tion  of  his  scent  between  the  blood  of  the  freeman  and  the  slave,  be 
tween  the  blood  of  the  armed  warrior  and  that  of  women  or  children  ; 
between  the  blood  of  the  black  and  the  white  ;  between  the  blood  of  the 
savage  Seminole  and  the  Anglo  pious  Christian.  Also  the  number 
of  bloodhounds,  and  their  conductors,  imported  by  this  Government,  or 
by  the  authorities  of  Florida  from  the  island  of  Cuba,  and  the  costs  of 
importation  ?  Also  whether  a  further  importation  of  the  same  heroic 
race  into  the  State  of  Maine  to  await  the  contingency  of  a  threatened 
northeastern  boundary  question,  is  contemplated  ?  Or,  only  to  set  an 
example  to  be  followed  by  our  possible  adversary  in  the  event  of  a  con. 
flict,  whether  measures  have  been  taken  to  secure  exclusively  to  our 
selves  the  employment  of  this  auxiliary  force  ?  and  whether  he  de^ms 
it  expedient  to  extend  to  the  bloodhounds  and  their  posterity  the  bene 
fits  of  the  pension  laws." 

But  as  the  resolution  gave  rise  to  debate,  it  was  laid  on  the  table.     I 
will  be  remembered  that  in  a  former  chapter  we  spoke  of  the  employ 
ment  of  these  bloodhounds,  and  refer  to  the  subject  only  to  give  place  to 
the  resolution  just  cited,  as  one  of  the  passing  incidents  which  marked 
the  proceedings  of  Congress. 


CULMINATING   POINT   OF   SLAVERY. 

The  oligarchs  of  our  southern  States  were  much  annoyed  by  the  flight 
of  their  bondmen  to  the  Canadas,  where  they  were  welcomed  and  soon 
became  useful  subjects  of  the  British  crown.  When  they  once  reached 
the  jurisdiction  of  British  laws  they  regarded  themselves  safe  from 
the  master's  scourge.  To  remedy  this  practice,  Hon.  Garret  Davis,  of 
Kentucky,  proposed,  by  resolutions,  to  call  on  the  Executive  to  open 
negotiations  with  the  British  Government,  and  if  possible  obtain  a  treaty 
by  which  fugitive  slaves  should  be  surrendered,  or  the  value  of  the  slave 
paid  to  the  master  by  the  government  of  England  ;  but  the  proposition 
was  not  sustained  by  the  House.* 

The  student  of  our  political  history  will  in  future  regard  fhe  despotism 
of  slavery  as  having  reached  its  culminating  point  during  this  first  session 
of  the  twenty-sixth  Congress.  Northern  submission  then  descended  to 
its  lowest  depths  ;  from  that  time  resistance  to  the  slave  power  became 
stronger  and  more  frequent.  And  although  for  a  while  the  struggle 
appeared  unequal,  the  grasp  of  southern  politicians  upon  political  power 
began  gradually  to  relax  in  proportion  as  the  advocates  of  liberty  in 
creased  in  numbers  and  influence. 

The  presidential  campaign  of  1840  contributed  greatly  to  awaken  the 
public  mind  to  the  corruptions  of  the  democratic  party,  and  of  the  slave 
power  which  controlled  its  operations.  Oppression  can  only  thrive  in 
quietude,  and  quietude  under  oppression  can  only  be  cultivated  in  the 
Sterile  soil  of  ignorance.  With  the  exception  of  four  years,  the  demo 
cratic  party  had  been  in  power  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  ;  during  that 
time  it  had  become  despotic,  corruption  keeping  pace  with  despotism; 
and  now,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  nation,  the  people  were 
directly  and  personally  addressed  and  invoked  to  arouse  and  hurl  from 
office  a  party  denounced  as  unworthy  of  public  confidence.  The  Whigs 
laid  down  no  essential  principle,  no  fundamental  doctrine  on  which  they 
rallied  ;  they  took  no  distinct  issue  with  the  democratic  party,  except 
on  some  minor  points  of  policy;  but  the  canvass  was  conducted  through 
out  by  continued  exhibitions  of  the  frauds,  peculations,  corruptions,  des 
potisms,  and  unworthiness  of  the  democratic  candidates.  Southern 
Whigs  denounced  them  as  favoring  abolition,  northern  Whigs  arraigned 
them  as  the  mere  instruments  for  carrying  out  the  despotism  of  slavery  ; 
showed  that  they  had  stricken  down  the  right  of  petition,  had  silenced  the 
freedom  of  debate,  maintained  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
and  on  our  southern  coast,  and  done  many  other  things  destructive  of 
liberty  and  free  government.  They  flooded  the  country  with  Congres- 

*  Twenty-two  years  afterwards  Mr.  Davis  was  a  member  of  the  Senate,  from  Kentucky,  and  con 
tinued  to  utter  his  preference  for  slavery  without  any  apparent  change  of  opinion. 


14:2  ELECTION    OF    PRESIDENT   HARRISON. 

sional  speeches,  reports  of  committees,  and  official  documents.  Political 
orators  travelled  every  State  and  nearly  every  county  and  town,  address 
ing  public  meetings,  and  calling  on  the  people  to  come  forth  in  the  true 
spirit  of  our  institutions,  and  by  their  votes  save  the  Government  and 
country  from  that  sure  destruction  which  must  in  time  await  it,  if  exist 
ing  evils  were  not  corrected. 

Mr.  Yan  Buren  was  the  democratic  candidate  ;  he  was  an 
able  man,  and  had  labored  to  correct  and  reform  his  party  ;  but 
unfortunately  for^himself,  was  controlled  by  southern  politicians,  who 
were  far  less  discreet. 

General  Harrison,  the  whig  candidate,  was  a  citizen  of  Ohio.  He  had 
distinguished  himself  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  had,  like  the  sons  of  the 
"  first  families  of  Virginia,77  held  office  from  his  youth.  He  was  not  only 
a  son  of  the  Old  Dominion,  but  had  been  reared  a  slaveholder,  and  his 
whole  life  had  been  acceptable  to  the  slave  power. 

Some  of  the  more  active  anti-slavery  men  of  the  country  would  not  sup 
port  either  Mr.  Van  Buren  or  General  Harrison  ;  but  nominated  Hon. 
James  G.  Birney,  a  citizen  of  Kentucky,  a  lawyer  of  high  moral  character, 
who,  having  been  called  to  investigate  the  question  of  "property  in  slaves," 
became  impressed  with  the  absurdity  of  the  dogma,  as  well  as  of  the  institu 
tion  itself.  He  emancipated  his  own  bondmen,  and  avowed  his  hostility 
to  the  institution.  He  was  sustained  by  "  The  Philanthropist,77  a  news 
paper  published  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  ably  conducted  by  "  Gamaliel 
Bailey,  Esq.,7'  who  for  twenty  years  had  been  a  devoted  advocate  of 
liberty. 

The  vote  for  Mr.  Birney  was  small,  but  the  mere  fact  that  a  man  bred 
a  slaveholder  had  become  an  anti-slavery  candidate  for  President,  was 
looked  upon  by  southern  statesmen  as  a  portentous  omen. 

General  Harrison  was  elected  by  a  triumphant  vote,  and  the  prestige 
of  the  democratic  party  was  somewhat  impaired,  and  the  manifestation 
of  discontent  under  slaveholding  despotism  created  uneasiness  among 
southern  politicians,  while  it  strengthened  and  confirmed  northern  men 
in  their  hatred  of  oppression. 

The  whig  members  of  Congress  had  professed  disgust  at  the  gag-rules 
under  which  they  were  constrained  to  sit,  and  the  whig  press  of  the 
country  had  condemned  the  suppression  of  debate  as  well  as  prohibiting 
the  right  of  petition  ;  and  no  one  appeared  to  doubt  that  on  coming 
into  power  that  party  would  restore  those  natural  and  constitutional 
prerogatives  of  the  people. 

1840,          A  new  state  of  things  existed  at  the  meeting  of  the  twenty- 
sixth  Congress  for  the  purpose  of  holding  its  last  session.     The 


CASE  OF  THE   "  AMISTAD."  143 

Democrats  were  going  out  of  power,  and  the  responsibilities  of  the 
Government  were  soon  to  be  assumed  by  the  whig  party.  The  ques 
tion  of  slavery  had  not  been  an  issue  between  the  Whigs  and  Demo 
crats,  and  no  one  expected  the  President  elect  would  cast  his  influence 
against  slavery,  further  than  to  favor  the  right  of  petition  and  the  free 
dom  of  debate  :  on  other  points  the  Whigs  hoped  much  and  the 
Democrats  feared  much  from  the  influence  of  the  incoming  Executive  ; 
yet  the  Whigs  merely  demanded  that  he  should  favor  a  high  tariff,  a 
national  bank,  and  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands. 
But  during  the  early  part  of  the  session,  little  was  said  on  party  ques 
tions,  which  by  common  consent  were  pretermitted  to  a  more  conve 
nient  season. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  session  Mr.  Adams  gave  notice  of  his  intention 
to  move  a  repeal  of  the  "  gag  resolution,"  as  it  was  called,  which  now 
constituted  the  21st  rule  of  the  House. 

•  The  Legislature  of  South  C^olina  having  adopted  a  long  report 
and  resolutions  expressing  their  approval  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  administra 
tion,  and  lauding  him  for  his  devotion  to  southern  interests,  and  denounc 
ing  the  election  of  General  Harrison  as  having  been  obtained  by  disre 
putable  and  unworthy  appeals  to  the  people,  transmitted  them  to  Senator 
Preston,  of  that  State,  who  presented  them  to  the  Senate.  But  no 
Senator  took  exception  to  this  supercilious  reproof  of  those  northern 
States  whose  people  had  voted  without  respect  to  the  wishes  of  South 
Carolina. 

An  incident  now  occurred  well  calculated  to  confirm  mankind  hi  the 
philosophy,  that  the  will  of  the  Creator  is  manifested  in  the  laws  which 
govern  the  moral  and  physical  universe,  giving  to  all  men  imprescript 
ible  rights  to  live  arid  to  that  liberty  which  shall  enable  them  to  support 
life,  obtain  knowledge  and  enjoy  happiness.  Indeed,  history,  observa 
tion  and  experience  show  that  a  love  of  life  and  liberty  inspires  every 
human  soul  to  effort :  hence,  every  man  or  government  that  seeks  to 
enslave  or  murder  innocent  men  or  women,  violates  this  "law  of  nature 
and  of  nature's  God,"  and  makes  war  upon  the  will  of  Omnipotence. 

In  June,  1839,  a  Cuban  slave  ship  landed  her  cargo  of  human  beings 
at  Havana  ;  the  negroes  were  imprisoned  in  the  barracoons  of  that  city 
a  short  time,  when  forty-nine  of  them  were  purchased  by  I.  Ruiz,  a 
slavedealer,  and  three  others  by  P.  Montez.  A  pass  for  these  fifty-two 
persons  was  obtained  from  the  Governor  by  paying  him  the  usual  fee, 
which  constitutes  a  portion  of  his  official  perquisites  for  permitting  the 
foreign  slave  trade  to  be  carried  on  in  that  island.  This  pass  was 
merely  a  license  to  Montez  and  Ruiz  to  transport  certain  Ladinos  (or 


14:4:  QUESTION   OF   PROPERTY   IN    MEN. 

acclimated  slaves.),  naming  them,  from  Havana  to  Principe,-on  the  south 
of  the  island. 

The  slaves  were  shipped  on  board  the  schooner  "  Amistad"  about  the 
1st  of  July,  and  on  the  same  day  she  sailed  for  her  port  of  destination. 
The  crew  consisted  of  the  captain,  mate,  and  three  sailors  ;  three  pas 
sengers  were  also  on  board  besides  Montez  and  Ruiz  and  their  slaves. 

When  four  days  out,  and  while  sailing  along  the  coast,  the  Africans 
by  preconcert  suddenly  rose  upon  their  oppressors,  slew  the  captain  and 
cook,  and -wounded  two  of  the  crew.  The  others  surrendered,  and  the 
slaves  took  possession  of  the  ship,  and  in  one  half  hour  the  "  status"  of 
these  parties  was  reversed.  The  Africans  held  their  masters  in  subjec 
tion,  and  the  haughty  slavedealer  now  meekly  bowed  to  that  class  of 
beings  whom  but  a  few  moments  previously  he  had  called  his  "  property." 
But  these  Pagans  were  too  sensitive  to  the  dictates  of  natural  justice  to 
hold  their  Christian  victims  in  bondage.  They  immediately  sent  the 
crew  and  passengers  on  shore  in  the  boat,  but  retained  Ruiz  and  Mon-* 
tez,  directing  them  by  signs  to  guide  the  ship  to  Africa,  their  native 
land,  from  which  slaveholding  cupidity  had  torn  them. 

But  the  Spaniards,  taking  advantage  of  the  foggy  weather,  and  of 
the  darkness  of  night,  headed  the  ship  northwardly,  and  at  length  came 
to  anchor  near  the  east  end  of  Long  Island,  on  the  coast  of  Connecticut. 

Lieutenant  Gedney,  of  the  schooner  "  Washington,"  engaged  on  the 
coast  survey,  took  possession  of  the  "  Amistad "  and  cargo,  claiming 
salvage  on  both  property  and  negroes,  whom  he  believed  to  constitute 
"property:"  while  he  permitted  Montez  and  Ruiz,  the  only  criminals 
engaged  in  the  transaction,  to  go  at  liberty.  But  the  moral  sense  of 
the  community  would  have  consigned  them  to  the  gallows,  and  set  the 
slaves  at  liberty. 

The  whole  transaction  was  published  in  the  papers,  and  created  much 
interest.  People  of  the  free  States  now  saw  the  slave  trade  brought 
home  to  the  shores  of  New  England.  Its  crimes  and  its  horrors  were 
unveiled  to  the  public  view,  while  the  native  love  of  liberty  had  been  man 
ifested  in  the  heroism  with  which  these  barbarians  obtained  possession  of 
the  ship. 

The  Spanish  minister,  in  the  name  of  his  government,  demanded  that 
these  heroic  Africans  should  be  sent  back  to  Cuba  and  delivered  up  to 
the  authorities  of  that  island  to  be  punished  for  regaining  their  freedom, 
which  by  the  people  of  our  free  States  was  regarded  as  a  "  heroic 
virtue" 

But,  to1  the  extreme  mortification  of  northern  people,  the  President 
favored  the  claims  of  the  slavedealers  ;  and  instead  of  setting  the 


THE   PRESIDENT'S   BARBAROUS   INTENTION.  145 

negroes  free,  they  were  seized  and  imprisoned  under  "authority  of  the 
United  States  at  the  instance  of  the  Spanish  minister  ;  while  Montez 
and  Ruiz  claimed  them  as  their  property.  The  United  States  district 
attorney  appeared  on  behalf  of  Montez  and  Ruiz  as  well  as  of  the 
Spanish  minister.  The  proceedings  were  had  before  the  United  States 
district  court  for  the  State  of  Connecticut.  In  the  meantime  the  phil 
anthropists  of  New  England  were  not  idle  spectators  of  these  incidents. 
They  engaged  eminent  counsel  to  appear  on  behalf  of  the  negroes,  and 
maintain  their  natural  and  legal  rights  to  freedom. 

Southern  statesmen  were  nervously  excited.  All  trials  for  violations 
of  the  law  prohibiting  the  slave  trade  had  been  previously  intrusted  to 
southern  courts,  and  no  person  had  been  convicted.  Indeed,  such  was 
the  sympathy  of  the  people  of  the  slave  States  for  slavedealers  that  no 
conviction  for  the  crime  of  slavedealing  could  be  obtained  before  a  slave- 
holding  court  and  a  slaveholding  jury.  But  a  trial  for  that  crime  among 
the  freemen  of  Connecticut  was  looked  to  with  fear  and  trembling  by 
southern  men.  There  every  man  felt  that  no  slave  could  tread  the  soil 
of  a  State  whose  people  had  exhibited  such  an  undying  love  of  liberty : 
yet  it  was  known  that  the  President  and  all  southern  statesmen  were 
anxious  that  the  court  should  in  some  manner  obtain  a  conviction  of 
those  friendless  Africans  ;  and  most  northern  politicians  were  timid  and 
faultering. 

While  the  trial  was  progressing,  the  President  sent  an  armed  vessel  to 
New  Haven  with  orders  to  carry  those  Africans  to  Cuba  soon  as  they 
might  be  delivered  to  the  captain  on  board  ;  and  at  the  same  time  he 
sent  secret  directions  to  the  attorney  and  marshal  of  the  district  to  hurry 
the  prisoners  on  board  the  ship  as  rapidly  as  possible  after  the  judge 
should  decide  against  them,  without  permitting  their  counsel  or  friends 
to  take  an  appeal. 

In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Adams,  watchful  and  vigilant,  introduced  reso 
lutions  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  calling  on  the  President  to  com 
municate  to  Congress  the  process  or  authority  on  which  these  persons, 
charged  with  no  crime,  were  held  in  prison. 

This  calling  in  question  the  authority  by  which  the  Africans  were 
imprisoned,  appeared  to  alarm  the  advocates  of  slavery;  and  the  demo 
cratic  party  rejected  the  proposition  ;  but  while  the  court  and  council 
were  publicly  arguing  and  examining  the  question  whether  these  heathens 
had  received  from  the  Creator  the  right  to  life  and  liberty,  the  House 
of  Representatives  was  engaged  in  the  same  investigation,  and  the  news 
papers  were  spreading  the  facts  before  the  people. 

Some  public  men  went  farther,  and  asserting  the  well  known  and 

10 

I 


14:6  MR.    ADAMS   VOLUNTEERS   AS    COUNSEL. 

acknowledged  principle  that  slavery  and  slavedealing  constitutes  a  per 
petual  war  between  the  enslavor  and  the  enslaved,  they  vindicated  the 
right  of  these  Africans  not  only  to  rise  and  slay  their  captors  whenever 
they  had  the  power  to  do  so  ;  but  to  hold  those  who  surrendered,  as 
prisoners,  and  the  ship  and  cargo  as  their  lawful  prize:  and  that 
our  Government  had  no  right  to  interfere  between  the  Africans  and 
Montez  and  Ruiz,  who  were  legal  prisoners,  nor  to  take  from  the  Afri 
cans  the  ship  or  cargo,  which  were  their  "  legal  prize" 

These  questions  greatly  annoyed  the  advocates  of  slavery,  and  the 
democratic  party,  on  whom  the  slave  interest  relied  for  support. 

After  a  long  and  patient  investigation,  the  court  pronounced  judgment  in 
favor  of  the  prisoners,  notwithstanding  the  influence  arrayed  against  them: 
Holding  that  by  the  laws  of  God  and  man  these  people  had  the  right  to  live, 
and  to  that  liberty  which  would  enable  them  to  cherish  and  protect  life. 

The  libellants  were  therefore  constrained  to  permit  the  prisoners  to  be 
set  at  liberty,  or  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court.  They  chose  to  appeal, 
and  the  case  stood  for  hearing  before  that  august  tribunal. 

Mr.  Adams  had  been  educated  for  the  bar,  and  for  some  years  had 
practised  both  in  State  and  United  States  courts  ;  but  more  than  thirty 
years  previously,  fre  had  retired  from  professional  duties,  devoting  his 
whole  time  to  the  public  service.  He  had  taken  a  deep  interest  in  this 
case,  which  had  been  well  and  ably  argued  before  the  district  court  by 
Governor  Baldwin,  of  Connecticut :  but  when  the  appeal  was  entered, 
and  the  case  was  likely  to  come  before  the  Supreme  Court,  it  assumed  a 
political  as  well  as  legal  character.  Marshall,  who  had  so  long  presided 
in  that  tribunal,  had  departed  ;  and  a  majority  of  the  judges  were  at 
that  time  comparatively  inexperienced  members  of  the  democratic  party ; 
they  were  also  slaveholders,  and  sympathized  with  those  who  were 
endeavoring  to  sustain  the  institution. 

The  public  men  of  the  free  States  had  confidence  in  Story  and  Thomp 
son  and  M'Lean ;  but  Baldwin,  though  from  a  free  State,  had  long  been 
among  the  ablest  and  firmest  supporters  of  slavery ;  and  the  other  five  were 
from  the  slave  States,  reared  and  educated  in  the  love  of  oppression. 
Under  these  circumstances,  there  was  a  strong  desire  among  the  philan 
thropists  to  have  Mr.  Adams  appear  as  counsel  for  the  Africans,  not  so 
much  to  argue  the  legal  questions  which  arose  in  the  case,  as  to  avail 
themselves  of  his  moral  influence  before  the  court  and  nation. 

And  now,  after  the  distinguished  statesman  had  been  more  than  a 
generation  absent  from  the  court,  he  reappeared  as  counsel  for  these 
ignorant  barbarians,  who  could  not  speak  our  language,  and  with  whom 
he  could  not  converse,  except  through  an  interpreter. 


THE   AFEICANS    SET   AT   LIBERTY.  147 

The  trial  constituted  a  scene  deeply  interesting.  The  Legislative 
branch  of  Government  had  become  entirely  subservient  to  the  slave 
power  :  the  Executive  had  not  only  exhibited  a  desire  to  send  these 
Africans  back  to  a  worse  than  heathen  bondage  ;  but  he  had  manifested 
an  anxiety  to  do  so  without  even  permitting  them  to  be  heard  before 
the  court  of  dernier  resort. 

The  question  was  one  which  struck  at  the  very  existence  of  slavery : 
Were  these  degraded,  ignorant,  superstitious  heathen  entitled  to  life 
and  liberty  ?  Had  the  Creator  endowed  them  with  these  prerogatives  ? 
These  questions  constituted  the  momentous  issue  to  be  tried  :  the  Court, 
clad  in  judicial  robes,  the  distinguished  Attorney-General,  and  numerous 
members  of  the  bar,  Governor  Baldwin  acting  as  prisoners'  counsel  for 
the  Africans,  associated  with  Mr.  Adams,  who  had  long  since  left  the 
Presidential  chair,  with  the  honors  and  blessings  of  a  nation  ;  the  vast 
audience,  the  solemn  bearing  and  dignity  of  the  court  and  officers,  all 
conspired  to  render  the  proceeding  one  of  high  moral  sublimity. 

During  the  whole  argument  there  was  perfect  silence  ;  but  when 
Mr.  Adams,  in  his  peroration,  spoke  of  mankind  as  a  race  endowed  with 
intelligence  and  hopes  of  immortality,  and  then  referred  to  the  slave 
trade  and  the  slavedealer,  painted  his  revolting  crimes,  and  spoke  of 
Ruizy  when  entering  the  "dark  valley,"  and  earth  receding  from  his 
view,  "  when  this  sin  should  sit  heavy  on  his  soul,"  the  feelings  of  the 
audience  nor  of  the  court  could  be  disguised. 

The  judges,  after  due  consideration,  delivered  their  opinion,  declaring 
in  substance  that  these  people  were  born  free,  and  had  never  been  legally 
held  as  slaves.  That  in  rising  upon  the  captain  and  crew,  and  taking 
possession  of  the  ship,  they  committed  no  crime,  violated  no  law,  and 
were  amenable  to  no  punishment. 

The  triumph  was  complete,  so  far  as  the  Africans  were  concerned. 
They  were  liberated  and  sent  back  to  their  native  land  at  the  public 
expense  :  yet  the  court  failed  to  meet  the  great  point  which  constituted 
the  real  issue.  They  contented  themselves  with  saying  that  these  men 
were  not  legally  enslaved  ;  but  did  not  say  that  the  natural  right  to 
liberty  was  inalienable :  that  no  human  being  could  be  legally  enslaved : 
that  any  human  enactment  authorizing  one  man  to  enslave  another  must 
le  void :  that  all  enactments,  agreements,  covenants,  oaths  or  obligations 
professing  to  authorize  or  encourage  the  commission  of  crime,  are  not 
only  void,  but  the  parties  become  accessory  to  the  crimes  committed 
under  such  agreements,  covenants  or  enactments.  ,  The  court  were  not 
probably  unmindful  that  these  principles  were  recognized  in  private  life, 
were  confirmed  by  daily  discussions  in  almost  every  municipal  court  ; 


148  CONSULTATION  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY   MEMBERS. 

but  the  doctrine  that  governments  were  bound  by  them,  had  long  been 
denied  by  both  Houses  of  Congress  and  by  the  Executive  ;  and  the 
court  appeared  unwilling  to  come  in  conflict  with  those  departments 
upon  a  question  so  vital  to  the  institution  of  slavery. 

The  author  of  this  work  was  now  anxious  to  put  forth  some  well 
defined  Constitutional  principle,  on  which  all  supporters  of  liberty  could 
unite  in  a  distinct  political  organization. 

Mr.  Adams  was  cautious  :  indeed  he  was  unwilling  to  enter  into  any 
combination  that  should  have  the  appearance  of  a  political  party. 
Mr.  Slade  fully  agreed  with  Mr.  Adams,  while  Mr.  Gates  favored  the 
proposition  of  the  writer. 

These  four  members  held  frequent  consultations,  in  order  to  devise 
some  plan  by  which  to  regain  the  freedom  of  debate  and  the  right  of 
petition. 

At  one  of  these  consultations  the  author  proposed  to  bring  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery  collaterally  into  debate,  while  other  matters  constituted 
the  main  subject  of  discussion.  Mr.  Adams,  not  apparently  understand 
ing  the  precise  mode  indicated,  took  occasion  to  urge  the  writer  to  try 
the  experiment,  saying,  that  as  he  had  bestowed  thought  upon  his  plan, 
had  been  in  the  practice  of  law  for  many  years,  and  would  be  better 
able  to  make  the  experiment  than  any  other  member  who  had  not 
reflected  maturely  on  the  subject.  To  this  proposition  the  author 
assented,  and  immediately  commenced  preparing  for  the  experiment. 
18*1 1  ^n  tne  8th  February,  Mr.  Thompson,  of  South  Carolina,  under 
leave  presented  a  bill  appropriating  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
Florida  war,  one*  hundred  thousand  dollars,  to  be  expended  under 
direction  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Seminole  chiefs 
and  warriors  who  should  surrender,  for  the  purpose  of  emigrating  west. 
It  was  in  fact  intended  to  bribe  certain  chiefs  to  go  west  in  order  to  in 
duce  others  to  follow. 

The  bill  came  up  <c  in  committee  of  the  whole  House  on  the  state  of 
the  Union."  This  committee  is  known  to  no  other  legislative  body.  It 
was  adopted  during  the  Revolution,  and  all  facts  and  arguments  relating 
to  the  Union  are  strictly  within  the  order  of  debate,  thus  giving  the 
Speaker  great  latitude  of  remark. 

When  the  bill  had  been  taken  up,  Mr.  Thompson  spoke  in  favor  of  its 
passage. 

The  writer  next  obtained  the  floor  and  at  once  declared  his  inten 
tion  to  develop  the  cause  of  the  war,  and  the  objects  of  its  continuance. 
He  quoted  the  authority  of  Mr.  Thompson,  the  Indian  Agent,  to  show 


FREEDOM   OP   SPEECH    A88ICRTEI).  1  10 

that  the  Seminoles  refused  to  emigrate  west  lest   the  negroes,  who 

l;;id  so  long  resided  with  them,  should  be  seized  and  enslaved  by  the 

(Y< -.-IvR.     That  the  object  of  constraining  the  ScminoleB  to  emigrate  wan 

to  enslave  these  people  ;  that  to  effect  this  piratical  object  tlio  nation 

h:id    ln-en    plunged    into    war,  and    lln-    Mood  and  tre:i.-urr  of    lln-    people 

were  being  sacrificed  for  the  enslavement  of  free  negroes. 

Mr.  Warren,  of  Georgia,  called  him  to  order,  and  the  question  waa 
debated,  and  the  chairman,  Mr.  Clifford,  of  Maim-,  a  Democrat,  d-  dared 
the  remarks  to  be  strictly  in  order,*  mid  requested  the  speaker  to 
proceed.  This  gave  him  confidence,  particularly  as  Mr.  Adams'  rose 
from  his  seat,  and  walking  into  the  area  in  fn.nl  of  the  Clerk's  desk, 
with  nppMivn!  .-olicilude  watched  every  inovennMil  of  the  advocates  of 
slavery,  who  had  by  this  time  gathered  around  the  speaker. 

The  author  proceeded  to  read  documents  sustaining  his  position  ;  but 
was  soon  called  to  order  by  Mr.  Habersham,  of  Georgia,  for  irrelevancy; 
but  the  chairman  decided  the  remarks  to  be  in  order. 

Mr.  Giddings  explained  that  he  had  no  intention  of  discussing  the 
institution  of  slavery  ;  he  did  not  expect  to  examine  its  merit!  or  cb- 
merits,  not  even  to  pronounce  it  wrong  or  right,  ;  he  only  intended  to 
show  that  it  constituted  the  cause  of  the  Florida  war,  while  neither 
Congress  nor  the  Federal  Government  held  any  authority  under  the  Con- 

slilnlioii  to  involve  the  people  of  the  nation  in  a  Moody  war  to  .-uppurt 
the  institution. 

He  then  read  reports  of  the  Indian  Agent  to  show  that  persons  resid 
ing  with  the  Seminoles,  though  born  frtf.,  had  been  seized  and  cnsUved 
by  desperate  men  from  Columbus,  Georgia;  that  a  men  named  Douglass, 
who  kept  a  gang  of  bloodhounds,  amended  by  others,  had  invaded 
the  Indian  plantations,  seized  whole  families  ofl  free  colored  persona  and 
carried  them  to  Georgia  and  sold  them  as  slaves. 

This  course  of  debate  appeared  to  arouse  much  southern  feeling. 
Messrs.  Cooper  and  Black,  of  Georgia,  and  Campbell,  of  South  Carolina, 
at  different  times  called  "  to  order;"  but  the  .chairman  overruled  their 
objections,  and  after  some  three  hours  mostly  consumed  by  interruptions 
and  incidental  debate  thereon,  Mr.  Giddings  concluded  his  remarks. 

The  only  merit  of  the  speech  consisted  in  bringing  out  fad-  with 
which  the  public  were  not  acquainted  ;  but  which  showed  conclusively 

*  During  th«  entire  debate  Mr.  Clifford  maintained  hlx  roolneiw  ami  Impartiality,  apparently 
anxiouM  to  fi'!ni'mi«tt'-r  the  Parliamentary  law  without  fear  or  favor  of  cither  party.  HI*  Impartiality 
<:;iil<:<!  forth  Home  crltlclum  from  idavehoMijix  m<-rnhcm,  of  which  Mr.  Clifford  complained.  II« 
;  il,:it.  the  »p«-,.f.h  had  been  pre.jxirttl  for  the  purpone  of  hrlritflnK  thn  guhjoct  of  Hkivrjr 
to  the  view  of  the  UOUM  and  country  without  violating  the  "gag-role."  This  wa§  of  counw  literally 
correct. 


150  SUBSTANTIALLY   MAINTAINED. 

that  the  war  then  going  on  in  Florida,  had  been  waged  for  the  purpose 
of  reenslaving  the  colored  exiles  residing  in  that  territory. 

Mr.  Cooper,  of  Georgia,  replied.  He  declared  that  he  regarded  the 
speech  as  altogether  aimed  at  the  institution  of  slavery .  He  spoke  of 
abolition  as  a  "  moral  pestilence  "  to  be  condemned  and  scorned  by  all 
good  men  ;  referred  to  Messrs.  Adams  and  Giddings  as  leaders  in  the 
abolition  ranks,  while  they  were  encouraged  and  cheered  on  by  the 
whig  party  ;  and  he  particularly  charged  General  Harrison,  the  Presi 
dent  elect,  with  encouraging  abolitionists,  and  thus  involving  the  whig 
party  of  Georgia  in  the  odium  of  supporting  the  right  of  all  men  to 
liberty.  He  alluded  to  the  case  of  a  vessel  from  Maine  that  had  earned 
a  slave  from  Georgia,  when  the  Chair  called  him  to  order. 

Mr.  Black,  of  Georgia,  insisted  that  Mr.  Giddings  had  made  an  anti- 
slavery  speech,  and  Mr.  Cooper  ought  to  be  allowed  to  reply.  Mr. 
Adams  also  interposed,  saying  the  gentleman  had  made  a  pointed  allusion 
to  him,  and  he  hoped  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  replying.  Mr.  Wise,  of 
Virginia,  sustained  Mr.  Black,  and  on  an  appeal  the  House  sustained 
him,  and  Mr.  Cooper  proceeded  to  arraign  the  Governor  and  authorities 
of  Maine,  as  abolitionists. 

1841  .j  Mr.  Black,  of  Georgia,  next  obtained  the  floor.  He  at  once 
arraigned  Ohio  for  her  cruelty  to  the  colored  people,  declaring 
that  State  stood  preeminent  for  her  wickedness  in  that  respect.  He  was 
called  to  order,  decided  to  be  out  of  order,  but  permitted  by  vote  of  the 
House  to  proceed  out  of  order.  He  was  nervously  excited  ;  declared 
that  he  intended  to  be  personally  offensive  to  Mr.  Giddings,  and  holding 
a  copy  of  the  Bible  in  his  hand,  read,  "  Thou  hypocrite,  first  cast  the 
beam  out  of  thine  own  eye,"  as  he  pointed  his  finger  directly  at  the 
object  of  his  wrath.  He  assured  the  House  that  if  the  member  from 
Ohio  (Mr.  Giddings)  would  come  to  Georgia  he  should  be  hanged. 

Mr.  Downing,  who  held  a  seat  merely  as  a  delegate  from  the  Terri 
tory  of  Florida,  next  addressed  the  House,  and  even  outrivalled  Mr. 
Black  in  vulgar  assaults  upon  Mr.  Giddings.  Mr.  Thompson,  of  South 
Carolina,  was  more  refined  in  language  and  manner  of  attack,  declaring 
that  the  whig  party  were  not  responsible  for  the  course  pursued  by  "  the 
very  obscurest  of  the  obscure  individuals  belonging  to 'that  party." 

Feeling  the  insult  of  Mr.  Thompson  perhaps  too  keenly,  Mr.  Giddings 
replied  that  every  statesman  or  member  of  Congress  would  select  the 
position  v;hich  he  chose  to  occupy  before  the  people.  History  and  those 
who  should  come  after  us  would  judge  that  point  ;  but  he  would  inform 
the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina,  that  he  did  not  possess  the  power 
to  designate  the  position  which  other  members  should  fill  in  the  public 


EFFORTS   TO   SUPPRESS   DEBATE.  151 


mind,  although  he  must  choose  his  own.  K"or  would  the  speaker  (Mr. 
Giddings)  say  what  niche  in  the  Temple  of  Fame  Mr.  Thompson  would 
occupy.  He  said  that  he  well  understood  the  insult  offered  him  by  the 
gentleman  from  South  Carolina  ;  but  he  could  not  resent  it  in  the  man 
ner  common  among  southern  gentlemen,  as  the  people  of  the  free  States 
would  not  permit  their  public  servants  to  practice  that  barbarous  mode 
of  settling  difficulties  ;  that  if  permitted  by  the  voice  of  his  constituents, 
his  own  conscience  would  not  permit  him  to  engage  in  that  mode  of 
settling  difficulties.  But  he  would  rather  say  to  the  gentleman,  in  the 
language  of  a  military  veteran,  who,  after  meeting  the  enemy  in  a  hun 
dred  battles,  happened  to  offend  a  young  officer,  who  spat  in  his  face, 
expecting  to  call  out  a  challenge,  but  the  aged  warrior,  taking  his  hand 
kerchief  from  his  pocket,  coolly  wiped  the  spittle  from  his  face,  saying, 
"  Could  I  as  easily  wipe  the  stain  of  your  blood  from  my  soul  you  should 
not  live  an  hour."  Instantly  Mr.  Alford,  of  Georgia,  sprang  from  his 
seat,  and  uttering  profane  threats,  rushed  towards  Mr.  Giddings  with 
apparently  hostile  intention.  A  sensation  was  manifested  throughout 
the  hall  ;  members  rose  and  rushed  towards  the  parties  ;  but  when  Mr. 
Alford  arrived  within  a  few  feet  of  the  object  of  his  wrath,  Governor 
Briggs,  of  Massachusetts,  stopped  him  and  persuaded  him  to  return  to 
his  seat. 

Mr.  Thompson,  in  reply,  assured  the  House  and  the  country 
that  he  spoke  the  feelings  of  both  northern  and  southern  Whigs 
when  he  declared  that  the  member  from  Ohio  was  "  the  very  obscurest  of 
the  obscure  members  of  the  whig  party." 

To  Mr.  Downing  no  reply  could  be  made  consistent  with  self-respect  ; 
but  he  had  much  business  before  the  Committee  on  Claims,  of  which 
Mr.  Giddings  was  then  chairman,  and  when  that  gentleman  next 
approached  him  with  the  ordinary  salutation  of  friends,  Mr.  Giddings 
refused  to  give  him  his  hand,  assuring  him  that  he  was  at  liberty  to 
address  him  on  official  business,  but  on  no  other  pretence,  an  injunction 
which  Mr.  Downing  carefully  observed. 

But  notwithstanding  these  unpleasant  incidents,  Mr.  Giddings  suc 
ceeded  in  giving  to  the  country  an  explanation  of  the  causes  of  the 
Florida  war.  The  speech  was  a  little  more  than  a  compilation  of  public 
documents  on  that  subject,  but  it  was  printed  in  pamphlet  form  and  was 
widely  circulated  among  the  people. 

General  Harrison,  the  President  elect,  arrived  in  Washington  on  the 
day  of  this  debate,  and  on  hearing  that  it  had  occurred,  he  expressed 
great  dissatisfaction,  and  declared  that  he  would  relieve  the  whig  party 
of  all  odium  brought  upon  it  by  Mr.  Giddings'  efforts  in  favor  of  free 


152  PRESIDENT   HARRISON   DEVOTED   TO   SLAVERY. 

discussion,  and  when  the  author  on  the  following  day  called  to  pay  him 
the  customary  respect,  the  President  elect  gave  such  evidence  of  being 
offended  that  Mr.  Giddings  never  called  on  him  afterwards,  although 
they  were  both  from  the  same  State,  had  served  together  in  the  war 
of  1812,  and  Mr.  Giddings  had  exerted  such  influence  as  he  possessed, 
and  expended  much  money,  to  secure  the  election  of  the  President. 
But  Mr.  Thompson,  who  had  publicly  insulted  Mr.  Giddings  for  main 
taining  the  freedom  of  speech,  was  rewarded  with  a  mission  to  Mexico, 
although  no  vote  in  South  Carolina  had  been  given  in  favor  of  General 
Harrison's  election. 

True  to  the  principles  in  which  he  had  been  educated,  President  Har 
rison  prepared  a  paragraph  for  his  inaugural  address  which  was  highly 
offensive  to  all  who  advocated  the  right  of  petition  or  the  freedom  of 
debate. 

Mr.  Clay,  who  was  the  leader  of  the  whig  party,  was  consulted  upon 
the  inaugural,  and  took  exceptions  to  the  paragraph  alluded  to.  The 
President  requested  Mr.  Clay  to  alter  it  as  he  thought  best.  Mr.  Clay 
complied,  and  as  that  Senator  often  observed,  made  it  so  doubtful  whe 
ther  it  meant  anything  or  nothing,  that  no  one  could  take  offence  on 
reading  it. 

1841  These  details  present  some  of  the  difficulties  and  embarrass 

ments  which  were  met  by  the  advocates  of  liberty.  Messrs. 
Adams,  Slade,  Gates  and  Giddings  now  found  that  the  President  whom 
they  assisted  to  elect,  intended  to  wield  the  executive  power  and  influ 
ence  in.  favor  of  suppressing  the  right  of  petition  and  the  freedom  of 
debate,  and  that  the  same  influence  was  to  be  exerted  against  the  men 
who  advocated  those  rights.  They  saw  and  felt  that  persecution 
awaited  them. 

The  Supreme  Court,  however,  made  a  decision  which  in  some  respects 
encouraged  the  advocates  of  liberty. 

By  the  constitution  of  Mississippi,  slaves  from  other  States  were 
excluded  from  her  markets.  But  a  slavedealer  transported  a  number  of 
slaves  to  Jackson  and  sold  them  on  a  credit,  taking  in  payment  bills 
falling  due  at  a  subsequent  day.  Suit  was  brought  on  these  bills,  and 
two  questions  were  presented  for  the  consideration  of  the  court  : 

First,  Does  the  constitution  of  Mississippi,  without  any  law  to  give  it 
effect,  render  the  contract  void  ?  And  secondly,  Can  a  State  exclude 
property  of  any  kind  from  sale  within  its  territory  ?  Thus  raising  upon 
the  records  the  distinct  question  whether  slaves  were  property  and  there 
fore  the  subject  of  commerce. 

These  questions  being  important  were  fully  argued  by  learned  counsel, 


JUDGE  MCLEAN  SUPPORTS  THE  CONSTITUTION.  153 

and  submitted  to  the  court  for  decision.  And  Judge  McLean  met  them 
promptly,  fully,  and  ably  ;  showing  by  the  most  compact  argument  that 
whatever  individual  States  may  enact,  either  by  constitution  or  by  law, 
they  could  not  encroach  upon  the  powers  of  Congress,  to  regulate,  com 
merce  between  the  Slates :  nor  could  they  transform  persons  into  property, 
Taking  the  Federal  Constitution  for  his  guide,  he  showed  that  slaves 
were  referred  to  as  "persons"  and  not  as  property  in  each  of  the  four 
instances  in  which  they  are  spoken  of  in  that  instrument.  He  then 
declared  that  Congress  could  not  exclude  persons  from  going  from  one 
State  to  another.  That  as  persons  they  were  subject  to  State  laws : 
and  the  Legislatures  of  New  York  or  Massachusetts  may  exclude  the 
sale  of  slaves  or  persons  in  those  States  ;  but  could  not  prohibit  the 
importation  of  property,  which  alone  can  be  the  subject  of  commerce,  and 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  Congress.  But  the  other  judges  endeavored  to 
avoid  the  issue  made  upon  the  record  by  basing  their  decision  on  other 
points,  evidently  unwilling  to  meet  the  reasoning  of  the  learned  judge 
who  manifested  the  boldness  to  examine  a  question  so  important  to  the 
existence  of  slavery. 


154:  TYLEK,   ASSUMES    EXECUTIVE   DUTIES. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DISBANDMENT   OF   THE   WHIG   PARTY. 

1841  A  SPECIAL  session  of  the  twenty-seventh  Congress  was  con 

vened  by  proclamation  of  the  acting  President  John  Tyler,  on  the 
31st  May.  General  Harrison  had  departed  this  life  after  enjoying  the 
honors  of  President  but  one  short  month,  and  the  Executive  duties  devolved 
upon  a  man  who  had  never  manifested  any  particular  sympathy  with  the 
whig  party.  Indeed  he  had  always  opposed  some  of  their  leading 
political  tenets.  He  was  a  Yirginian,  entertaining  all  the  characteristic 
errors  and  egotism  which  at  that  time  gave  to  the  Old  Dominion  its 
principal  importance.  He  was  of  course  a  slaveholder,  and  from  him 
the  advocates  of  freedom  expected  no  particular  favor.  There  was  a 
Whig  majority  of  more  than  forty  members  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  and  se-ven  in  the  Senate,  and  no  party  had  ever  come  into  power 
with  such  opportunities  to  reform  the  Government  and  perpetuate  its 
own  ascendency  :  but  the  leading  members  of  that  organization  had 
departed  from  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  who  held  that  human  governments 
were  based  on  human  rights.* 

The  author  was  a  Whig,  an  earnest  supporter  of  the  whig  party  and 
whig  policy ;  but  is  constrained  to  say  that  he  was  not  aware  that  a 
member  of  that  or  of  the  democratic  party  at  that  time  entertained  any 
idea  of  a  "  higher  law,"  applicable  to  human  governments,  than  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which,  as  then  construed  by  both 
parties,  recognized  no  rights  in  mankind  lying  behind  and  above  human 
authority. 

The  party  had  recognized  no  primal  truth,  no  fundamental  doctrine 
on  which  its  members  united  before  election,  by  which  the  Executive 
and  Congress  were  to  be  guided  when  in  power  ;  and  now  being  in 
power,  and  the  offices  distributed,  they  could  agree  upon  no  doctrine  ; 
could  unite  upon  no  policy,  and  before  the  close  of  the  first  session  of 
Congress,  they  separated  into  factions,  the  party  was  substantially 
broken  up,  and  the  sceptre  of  power  had  departed  from  them. 

*  The  majority  in  the  Senate  is  stated  upon  the  authority  of  Col.  Benton,  vide  his  "  Thirty 
Years"  (vol.  ii.,  page  215).  In  the  House,  John  White  had  a  majority  of  31  votes  for  Speaker, 
while  eight  southern  Whigs  voted  for  Mr.  Wise,  who  was  an  ardent  Whig,  and  Messrs.  Adams, 
Slade,  Gates  and  Giddings  voted  for  Mr.  Lawrence,  of  Pennsylvania.  < 


PLAN"  FOR  DECEIVING  THE  PEOPLE.  155 

In  the  Senate  Mr.  Buchanan  presented  the  memorial  of  the  Society 
of  Friends  in  Pennsylvania,  praying  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the 
slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in  the  Territories  of  the 
tfnited  States.  Mr.  King,  of  Alabama,  stated  the  practice  of  the 
Senate  ;  saying  it  was  the  duty  of  the  presiding  officer,  when  petitions 
of  this  character  were  presented,  to  consider  the  question  of  reception  as 
raised,  and  then  await  the  motion  of  some  Senator  to  lay  the  resolution 
on  the  table,  which  left  the  petition  in  the  hands  of  the  Senator  present 
ing  it. 

This  was  the  formula  assumed  by  the  Senate,  in  order  to  satisfy  the 
people  by  leaving  their  petitions  in  the  hands  of  the  Senator  who  pre 
sented  them  :  yet  this  fraud  was  openly  advocated  as  satisfactory  to  an 
intelligent  nation  ;  for  Mr.  Buchanan  stated  that  he  was  aware  that 
such  was  the  practice,  and  he  thought  much  good  had  resulted  from  it, 
and  if  followed  up,  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  most  salutary 
results  would  follow.  Only  one  other  petition  of  that  kind  was  pre 
sented  in  the  Senate  during  the  extra  session.* 

1841 1  Soon  as  the  House  was  properly  organized,  Mr.  Wise  moved 
to  adopt  the  rules  of  the  last  Congress.  To  which  Mr.  Adams 
proposed  an  amendment,  excepting  the  21st  or  gag-rule  :  and  this 
amendment  was  adopted.  Mr.  Ingersol,  of  Pennsylvania,  moved  a 
reconsideration  of  this  vote,  and  on  that  motion  a  long  and  interesting 
debate  arose. 

Mr.  Adams,  in  maintaining  the  right  of  petition,  declared  it  an  error 
to  say  the  people  of  the  free  States  had  nothing  to  do  with  slavery. 
That  in  case  of  a  servile  insurrection,  they  would  be  called  on  to  inter 
fere  with  it. 

He  also  referred  to  the  fact  that  the  21st  rule  was  a  democratic 
measure,  to  which  the  Whigs,  as  a  party,  had  been  opposed,  and  he  was 
now  surprised  to  find  so  many  Whig  members  sustaining  the  measure 
which  they  had  formerly  repudiated. 

Mr.  Ingersol,  of  Pennsylvania,  replied  to  the  argument  of  Mr.  Adams. 
He  warned  the  South  of  the  approaching  danger  to  their  institutions  ; 
and  advised  them  to  combine  and  move  in  solid  phalanx  in  support  of 
southern  interests  ;  and  declared  that  he  was  surprised  and  horrified  at 
the  doctrine  advanced  by  Mr.  Adams,  saying  that  he  had  understood 

*  Eighteen  years  subsequently,  Mr.  Buchanan,  while  President,  prompted  by  the  same  kind  feel 
ings  towards  the  slaveholding  interest,  permitted  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina  to  take  possession 
of  the  Arsenal  situated  at  Charleston,  containing  immense  quantities  of  arms  and  ammunition; 
permitted  most  of  the  arms  and  ammunition  in  northern  arsenals  to  be  carried  South  ;  and  southern 
arsenals  to  be  seized,  preparatory  to  the  great  rebellion.  In  all  of  which  he  was  equally  sincere  and 
honest,  believing  it  the  only  mode  of  saving  the  Union. 


* 

156  POWER   TO   ABOLISH    SLAVERY. 

that  gentleman  to  say  that  in  case  of  a  servile  insurrection  breaking  out 
in  the  South,  there  would  be  an  end  of  the  Constitution  ;  and  turning  to 
Mr.  Adams,  said  he  would  be  glad  to  know  whether  he  correctly  under 
stood  him. 

Mr.  Adams  said,  that  he  had  stated  that  in  case  of  servile  war,  and 
the  people  of  the  free  States  were  called  on  by  the  President  to  suppress 
it,  they  would  have  the  perfect  right  to  dictate  the  terms  on  which  peace 
should  be  restored  :  if  the  free  portion  of  the  Union  were  called  upon  to 
expend  their  blood  and  treasure  to  support  that  institution  which  had 
the  curse  and  displeasure  of  the  Almighty  upon  it,  the  subject  itself 
would  come  within  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress,  and  there 
would  be  no  such  objection  as  that  Congress  had  not  the  right  to  inter 
fere.  :  but  the  right  would  be  acknowledged,  and  the  duty  admitted. 
And  when  members  of  Congress  should  take  the  power  into  their  hands, 
they  would  and  ought  to  dispose  of  the  institution  according  to  the 
dictates  of  justice. 

Mr.  Ingersol  repeated  his  own  feelings  of  horror  at  the  contemplation 
of  a  servile  insurrection  ;  declared  that  he  was  ready  to  march  at  any 
.   moment  to  assist  his  southern  brethren  in  such  case,  but  did  not  attempt 
to  answer  the  constitutional  argument  of  Mr.  Adams. 

Mr.  Ingersol  declared  there  were  more  than  2,000  abolition  societies 
in  the  free  States.  Said  that  foreign  books  were  circulated  in  this 
country  to  get  up  an  abolition  feeling.  All  these  things  were  a  con 
spiracy  to  destroy  the  institutions  of  the  South,  and  he  clearly  indicated 
that  no  abolitionist  ought  to  be  permitted  to  hold  office. 

Mr.  Wise  appeared  dissatisfied  with  the  Speaker  ;  spoke  of  his 
arrangement  of  the  several  committees,  and  referring  to  that  on  claims, 
said  the  chairman  (Mr.  Giddings,  of  Ohio)  would  never  report  a  bill  to 
pay  a  master  for  the  loss  of  his  slave  if  killed  in  the  public  service.  Mem 
bers  seeing  Mr.  Giddiugs  present,  called  on  Mr.  Wise  to  put  his  question 
to  the  chairman  of  that  committee.  "  Ask  him  " — "  Ask  him,"  resounded 
from  various  parts  of  the  hall.  "  I  will"  (said  Mr.  Wise);  and  turn 
ing  to  Mr.  Giddings,  said,  "  I  will  ask  the  chairman  if  he  would  report 
a  bill  to  pay  a  master  for  the  loss  of  a  slave  killed  in  the  public 
service  ?" 

That  gentleman  replied  :     "I  cannot  say  what  the  committee  migh 
do  ;   but  I  should  myself  follow  the  precedents  which  are  uniform  from 
the  commencement  of  the  Government." 

Mr.  Wise  was  dissatisfied  :  members  smiled  at  his  embarrassment. 
He  declared  it  the  first  time  that  he  had  known  the  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Claims  to  dodge  a  question :  but  finally  said  that  he  was 


PRESIDENT  TYLEK  FOB  THE  GAG-RULE.          157 

aware  that  the  precedents  were  against  such  payment,  but  the  precedents 
were  wrong;  and  he  was  anxious  to  correct  the  error.  He  next  assailed 
the  Speaker  for  appointing  Mr.  Adams  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
•"  Foreign  Affairs."  * 

In  the  course  of  this  speech,  Mr.  Wise  gave  the  first  public  notice 
that  Mr.  Tyler  meant  to  be  a  candidate  for  reelection  :  and  that  inten 
tion  was  yet  more  distinctly  avowed  by  Mr.  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts. 

At  this  point,  the  difficulties  which  finally  separated  Mr.  Tyler     ,1841 
from  the  great  body  of  those  who  elected  him  began  to  be 
developed. 

Hon.  William  Cost  Johnson,  of  Maryland,  a  slaveholding  Whig,  in 
order  to  give  weight  and  influence  to  his  own  argument,  in  favor  of  the 
21st  rule,  said  he  had  seen  a  letter  from  the  President,  Mr.  Tyler, 
recommending  its  support  by  members  of  the  House. 

Mr.  Adams,  noticing  this  arrogant  interference  with  legislative  duties 
by  the  President,  at  once  called  for  the  reading  of  the  letter.  Mr.  John 
son  replied  that  such  was  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Tyler  as  an  individual,  and 
not  expressed  in  any  official  correspondence  ;  but  the  incident  brought 
out  the  fact  that  the  President  and  Cabinet  were  in  favor  of  the  policy 
of  suppressing  debate  and  the  right  of  petition  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 

A  few  Whigs  adhered  to  the  President,  while  far  the  greater  portion 
were  opposed  to  him  ;  but  at  the  close  of  the  extra  session,  the  disband- 
ment  of  the  party  had  become  apparent  to  the  public. 

*  At  that  time  the  writer  supposed  and  still  believes  it  to  have  been  the  intention  of  Mr.  Clay,  if 
placed  in  power,  to  use  his  influence  to  restore  the  freedom  of  debate  and  the  right  of  petition,  and 
leave  the  institution  of  slavery  with  the  States.  Such  was  undoubtedly  the  intention  of  Speaker 
White  in  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Giddings  to  be  chairmen  of  committees,  second 
la  importance  only  to  that  of  "  Ways  and  Means." 


158  PETITIONS   PRESENTED   BY   ME.   ADAMS. 

CHAPTER  X.  - 

THE   TRIAL    OF    HON.    JOHN    QUINCY   ADAMS. 

1841,  THE  contest  upon  the  right  of  petition  and  the  freedom  of 

debate  evidently  increased  ;  slaveholding  members  became  irrita 
ble,  and  northern  members  who  sympathized  with  them  appeared  vexed 
and  discontented.  Personal  feeling  began  to  take  the  place  of  political 
sympathy  ;  the  social  relations  of  members  were  broken  up,  and  the 
common  civilities  of  life  were  no  longer  observed  by  a  portion  of  southern 
members.  Personal  bitterness  was  manifested  towards  the  writer  more 
than  towards  any  other  member.  There  was  not,  probably,  a  dozen 
slaveholding  members  who  at  that  period  recognized  him  while  passing 
on  the  street,-  or  when  meeting  him  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives. 
These  attempts  at  social  ostracism  extended  in  a  degree  to  Messrs.  Slade 
and  Gates,  who  were  also  regarded  as  obnoxious  to  southern  members  ; 
"  but  the  high,  moral,  and  social  position  of  Mr.  Adams  placed  him  above 
those  puerile  attempts  to  affect  the  official  position  of  members. 

Mr.  Adams  stood  alone  in  his  practice  of  presenting  each  petition 
separately,  and  asking  specific  action  thereon.  One  of  these  from 
Massachusetts,  prayed  that  colored  men  may  be  recognized  as  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  and  permitted  to  hold  lands  in  our  Territories. 

Another  invoked  Congress  to  guarantee  to  each  State  of  the  Union  a 
republican  form  of  government.  Another  prayed  to  be  relieved  from  tak 
ing  up  arms  in  defence  of  a  government  which  sustained  slavery.  Another 
prayed  relief  from  all  support  of  slavery  and  of  the  slave  trade.  Another 
prayed  Congress  to  take  measures  to  secure  colored  citizens  from  being 
enslaved  while  travelling  in  our  southern  States.  Another  setting  forth 
that  efforts  were  making  to  involve  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  a 
war  with  England,  in  order  to  compel  her  officers  to  aid  our  slave  mer 
chants  in  carrying  native  Americans  to  market,  declared  that  such  a 
war  would  exceed  in  guilt  that  which  England  waged  against  us  in  1176, 
in  the  same  degree  that  slavery  exceeds  the  political  dependence  in  which 
our  fathers  were  holden  by  the  British  Government,  and  the  memorial 
ists  prayed  to  be  exempt  from  serving  in  such  a  war. 

These  petitions  did  not  come  within  the  21st  rule  ;  they  called  forth 
debate  which  at  times  became  excited.  On  every  hand  Mr.  Adams  was 
assailed,  and  each  petition  appeared  to  call  forth  the  expression  of  more 
bitter  hostility. 


ME.    ADAMS   ASSERTS   THE  BIGHT   OF   PETITION.  159 

That  gentleman  had  served  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs  during  the  twenty-sixth  Congress,  while  his  colleague, 
Mr.  Cashing,  served  as  chairman.  Now  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  committee,  and  Mr.  Gushing  was  a  junior  member. 

On  the  21st  January,  he  presented  the  petition,  as  he  stated, 
of  a  respectable  portion  of  the  citizens  of  Georgia,  setting  forth 
that  while  Mr.  Adams  possessed  all  the  qualities  of  a  statesman  in  an 
eminent  degree,  they  regarded  him  a  monomaniac,  and  prayed  that  he 
be  removed  from  the  position  of  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs.  Having  presented  the  petition,  he  declared  his  desire  to  defend 
himself  against  the  charge  of  being  a  monomaniac. 

Mr.  Marshall,  of  Kentucky,  moved  that  Mr.  Adams  have  leave  to 
defend  himself,  and  show  that  he  was  not  a  monomaniac.  This  motion 
was  debated,  and  it  was  soon  manifest  that  the  slaveholders  were  un 
willing  to  have  him  address  the  House.  They  exhibited  greater  personal 
hostility  towards  him  than  at  any  former  time,  and  the  motion  was  finally 
laid  on  the  table. 

The  next  morning,  Mr.  Adams  asserted  his  right  as  a  question  of 
privilege,  to  defend  himself  against  the  charge  brought  against  him.' 
This  proposition  called  out  an  expression  of  still  greater  personal  hos 
tility  ;  but  the  Speaker  decided  that,  it  was  a  question  of  privilege. 

At  this  point  Mr.  Warren,  of  Georgia,  moved  a  reconsideration  of 
the  motion  laying  the  subject  on  the  table,  which  was  sustained  after 
many  objections,  and  Mr.  Adams  now  obtained  legitimate  possession  of 
the  floor  for  the  purpose  of  defending  himself.  Bat  he  had  no  sooner 
commenced  his  remarks,  than  calls  to  order  were  heard  from  all  parts  of 
the  hall .  The  Speaker  was  cool  and  firm  ;  he  explained  the  question, 
showed  with  great  perspicuity  the  parliamentary  rule.  Mr.  Adams  also 
bore  himself  with  becoming  dignity.  He  proceeded  to  expose  the  policy 
of  southern  members. 

The  slaveholders  and  northern  Democrats  became  greatly  excited. 
Mr.  Adams  at  no  time  uttered  half  a  dozen  sentences  without  being 
vociferously  called  to  order.  The  disorder  increased  ;  the  voice  of  Mr. 
Adams  was  often  drowned  amid  exclamations,  epithets,  and  denun 
ciations.  More  vindictive  feeling  was  exhibited  than  on  any  former 
occasion,  and  while  this  storm  of  passion  was  raging  a  motion  was  made 
and  carried  to  lay  the  subject  on  the  table. 

Mr.  Adams  being  in  possession  of  the  floor,  continued  to  present 
petitions.  One  after  another  were  laid  upon  the  table  on  motion  of  some 
slaveholder.  Throughout  the  hall  a  deep  feeling  of  hostility  towards  the 
distinguished  statesman  was  manifested.  The  day  was  far  spent  ;  from 


160  CELEBRATED   PETITION    FKOM    HAVERIIILL. 

the  reading  of  tlie  journal  in  the  morning  the  excitement  had  increased  ; 
yet  the  aged  patriot  remained  upon  his  feet,  deliberately  continuing  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duty,  with  no  apparent  intention  of  retiring  from  the 
conflict.  Near  him  were  Messrs.  Slade,  Gates,  and  Giddings,  deeply 
interested  in  what  was  passing ;  while  Wise,  and  Gilmer,  and  Holmes,  and 
Cooper,  and  Saunders,  and  other  slaveholding  members,  were  on  either 
hand,  watching  his  words  and  actions  with  apparently  intense  interest. 

At  length  he  took  from  the  file  of  papers  before  him  one  which  he 
opened  and  appeared  to  examine  with  more  than  usual  interest ;  then 
turning  to  the  Speaker,  he  said,  "  I  hold  in  my  hand  the  memorial  of 
Benjamin  Emerson  and  forty-five  other  citizens  of  Haverhill,  in  the 
State  of  Massachusetts,  praying  Congress  to  adopt  immediate  measures 
for  the  peaceful  dissolution  of  the  Union  of  these  States."  As  these 
words  were  uttered  an  obvious  sensation  ran  through  the  hall  ;  but  he 
continued  :  "  First,  Because  no  union  can  be  agreeable  or  permanent 
which  does  not  present  prospects  of  reciprocal  benefits.  Second,  Be 
cause  a  vast  proportion  of  the  resources  of  one  section  of  the  Union  is 
annually  drained  to  sustain  the  views  and  course  of  another.  Third, 
Because,  judging  from  the  history  of  past  nations,  if  the  present  course 
be  persisted  in  it  will  overwhelm  the  nation  in  utter  destruction." 

A  number  of  slaveholding  members  now  sprang  to  their  feet,  each 
demanding  leave  to  speak.  The  presiding  officer  called  to  order,  declar 
ing  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  was  in  possession  of  the  floor  ;  and 
when  order  was  again  restored  Mr.  Adams  continued,  saying,  "  I  move 
the  reference  of  this  petition  to  a  select  committee  of  nine  members,  with 
instructions  to  report  an  answer  to  the  petitioners,  showing  the  reasons 
why  the  prayer  of  their  petition  cannot  be  granted  ?" 

Vociferous  calls  for  the  floor  were  now  heard  from  all  parts  of  the 
hall.  Mr.  Hopkins,  of  Virginia,  was  first  recognized  ;  but  when  order 
was  restored,  and  the  attention  of  all  was  directed  towards  him,  expect 
ing  some  important  proposition  commensurate  with  the  occasion,  he 
merely  inquired  of  the  Speaker  if  it  would  be  in  order  to  burn  the  peti 
tion  in  the  presence  of  the  House  1  Other  inquiries  were  propounded  by 
different  members,  but  such  was  the  disorder  that  the  Speaker  paid  no 
attention  to  any  of  them. 

Mr.  Wise  inquired  if  a  resolution  to  censure  the  member  presenting 
the  petition  would  be  in  order  ?  In  response  to  this,  Mr.  Adams,  in  his 
seat,  expressed  his  own  gratification. 

A  motion  to  adjourn  was  made.  Mr.  Adams  hoped  the  House  would 
not  adjourn.  "  If,"  said  he,  "  a  vote  of  censure  is  to  be  passed,  it  may 
as  well  be  done  to-day." 


MB.    ADAMS   AKKAIGNED.  161 

At  length  Mr.  Gilmer,  of  Virginia,  offered  a  resolution  declaring, 
"  That  in  presenting  to  the  consideration  of  the  House  a  petition  for  the 
dissolution  of  the  Union,  the  member  from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Adams) 
had  justly  incurred  the  censure  of  this  House." 

A  question  was  raised  as  to  the  reception  of  the  resolution,  when  Mr- 
Adams  expressed  his  desire  that  it  might  be  received  and  debated,  and 
that  he  would  have  an  opportunity  of  defending  himself  ;  but  the  House 
adjourned  without  further  action.* 

Public  notice  was  given  that  a  meeting  of  members  from  the  slave 
States  would  be  held  that  evening  in  the  room  of  the  "  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs,"  to  make  proper  arrangements  for  the  trial,  which  was 
to  proceed  on  the  following  day. 

Most  of  the  members  showed  no  anxiety  to  leave  the  hall.  Many 
remained,  and  gathered  into  small  coteries,  earnestly  engaged  in  conver 
sation  upon  the  extraordinary  events  of  the  day.  Many  appeared 
deeply  indignant,  and  with  knitted  brows,  compressed  lips,  and  clinched 
fists,  uttered  imprecations  against  all  "  agitators n  and  abolitionists  ; 
others  exultingly  declared  Mr.  Adams  to  be  in  the  power  of  the  demo 
cratic  party,  as  all  southern  Whigs  would  act  with  them,  and  they  de 
clared  it  necessary  to  make  an  example  of  him. 

An  effort  was  made  to  get  a  meeting  of  northern  members  who  were 
willing  to  stand  by  and  assist  Mr.  Adams  in  meeting  the  persecutions 
and  dangers  which  surrounded  him  ;  but  to  these  efforts  most  northern 
Whigs  replied,  "  that  it  would  look  like  a  sectional  quarrel."  But  a  few 
members  friendly  to  Mr.  Adams  convened  that  evening  at  the  room  of 
the  author.  Messrs.  Slade  and  Young,  of  Yermont  ;  Calhoun,  of  Mas 
sachusetts  ;  Henry,  Lawrence  and  Simonton,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Gates 
and  Chittenden,  of  New  York,  and  Giddings,  of  Ohio,  were  present. 
Besides  these,  Rev.  Joshua  Leavitt,  of  Boston,  and  Theodore  Weld,  of 
New  Jersey,  were  also  present ;  although  they  were  not  members,  they 
were  well  known  as  able  and  zealous  advocates  of  freedom  and  friends 
of  Mr.  Adams.  These  two  gentlemen  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
wait  on  Mr.  Adams  and  inform  him  that  they  and  the  members  convened 
tendered  him  any  assistance  in  their  power. 

They  immediately  repaired  to  the  residence  of  Mr.  Adams,  though  the 
hour  was  late.  They  found  him  in  his  parlor,  and  without  delay  stated 
the  object  of  their  visit.  The  aged  statesman  listened  attentively,  but 

*  The  House  had  for  years  adopted  rales  to  suppress  debate,  and  had  used  parliamentary  and 
unparliamentary  means  to  prevent  Mr.  Adams  from  debating  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  he  now 
thought  if  permitted  to  debute  this  resolution  he  would  have  ample  scopo  for  arraigning  the  institu 
tion  ;  that,  however,  was  a  result  which  southern  men  had  not  looked  to.  *.'  t"'f 

11 


162  ASSISTANCE   TENDERED   HIM. 

for  a  time  was  unable  to  reply,  laboring  under  great  apparent  feeling. 
At  length  he  stated  that  the  voice  of  friendship  was  so  unusual  to  his 
ears,  that  he  could  not  express  his  gratitude  ;  that  he  would  feel  thank 
ful  if  they  would  examine  certain  points  to  be  found  in  the  authors  of 
which  he  gave  them  a  list,  and  have  the  books  placed  on  his  desk  at  the 
hour  of  meeting  the  next  day,  and  then  dismissed  them,  and  turned  his 
own  thoughts  to  a  preparation  for  the  contest. 

Prompt  at  the  call,  nearly  all  the  slaveholding  members  met  at  the 
place  appointed  that  evening  to  consult  on  the  best  mode  of  conducting 
the  debate  upon  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Gilmer.  That  gentleman  was  a 
member  of  the  democratic  party,  and  it  was  feared  that  this  circumstance 
would  injure  the  moral  effect  of  the  proceeding,  as  it  might  be  said  that 
it  constituted  a  partisan  persecution  rather  than  a  patriotic  effort  to 
•"  save  the  Union."  It  was  therefore  proposed  that  some  slaveholding 
Whig  should  appear  as  prosecutor  ;  and  Hon.  Thomas  F.  Marshall  was 
nominated  and  appointed  to  that  duty.  He  was  comparatively  a  young 
man,  a  nephew  of  the  late  John  Marshall,  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States  .Supreme  Court.  He  seemed  to  have  inherited  the  genius  and 
ability  of  his  ancestors,  had  already  distinguished  himself  in  the  Legis. 
lature  of  his  own  State,  and  had  now  come  to  Congress  under  more 
favorable  auspices  than  any  other  member  west  of  the  Alleghany  Moun 
tains.  He  was  anxious  to  distinguish  himself  upon  the  new  theatre  on 
which  he  had  but  just  entered. 

On  the  following  morning,  long  before  the  hour  for  the  House  to  con 
vene,  the  spacious  galleries  were  filled  to  their  utmost  capacity,  and  all 
approaches  to  the  hall  were  crowded  with  anxious  men  and  women,  en 
deavoring  to  get  where  they  could  hear  the  proceedings.  Foreign  minis- 
ters,  "  attaches "  and  privileged  persons  filled  the  lobbies  and  the  outer 
space  within  the  hall  and  outside  the  bar. 

The  Speaker  promptly  called  the  House  to  order  as  the  clock  told  the 
hour  of  twelve,  and  soon  as  the  journal  had  been  read,  Mr.  Marshall 
proposed  a  substitute  for  the  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Gilmer  on  the 
previous  day.  The  substitute  was  in  the  following  language  : 

"  Whereas  the  Federal  Constitution  is  a  permanent  form  of  govern 
ment  and  a  perpetual  obligation  until  altered  or  amended  in  the  mode 
pointed  out  in  that  instrument,  and  the  members  of  this  House  deriving 
their  political  character  and  powers  from  the  same,  are  sworn  to  support 
it  ;  and  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  necessarily  implies  the  destruction  of 
that  instrument,  the  overthrow  of  the  American  Republic,  and  of  our 
national  existence  :  A  proposition  to  the  Representatives  of  the  people 
to  dissolve  the  organic  law  framed  by  their  constituents,  and  to  support 


163 


which  they  are  commanded  to  be  sworn  before  they  can  enter  upon  the 
execution  of  the  political  powers  created  by  it,  and  intrusted  to  them,  is 
a  high  breach  of  privilege,  a  contempt  offered  to  this  House,  a  direct 
proposition  to  the  Legislature  and  each  member  of  it  to  commit  per 
jury,  and  involves  necessarily  in  its  execution  and  its  consequence,  the 
destruction  of  our  country  and  the  crime  of  high  treason. 

11  Resolved,  therefore,  That  the  Hon.  John  Quincy  Adams,  a  member 
from  Massachusetts,  in  presenting  for  the  consideration  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States  a  petition  praying  the  dissolution 
of  the  Union,  has  offered  the  deepest  indignity  to  the  House  of  which 
he  is  a  member,  an  insult  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  of  which 
that  House  is  the  or^an,  and  will,  if  this  outrage  be  permitted  to  pass 
unrebuked  and  unpunished  have  disgraced  the  country  through  their  Re 
presentatives  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  world. 

"  Resolved,  further,  That  the  aforesaid  John  Quincy  Adams,  for  this 
insult,  the  first  of  the  kind  ever  offered  to  the  Government,  and  for  the 
wound  which  he  has  permitted  to  be  aimed  through  his  instrumentality 
at  the  Constitution  and  existence  of  the  country,  the  peace,  security  and 
liberty  of  the  people  of  these  States,  might  well  be  held  to  merit  expul 
sion  from  the  national  councils,  and  the  House  deem  it  an  act  of  grace 
and  mercy  when  they  only  inflict  upon  him  their  severest  censure  for 
conduct  so  unworthy  of  his  past  relations  to  the  state  and  his  present 
position.  This  they  hereby  do  for  the  maintenance  of  their  own  purity 
and  dignity  :  for  the  act  they  turn  him  over  to  his  own  conscience  and 
the  indignation  of  all  true  American  citizens." 

The  resolutions  having  been  read,  Mr.  Marshall  proceeded  to  sustain 
them  by  a  speech  characterized  by  that  eloquence  and  force  of  argument 
for  which  he  was  distinguished.  The  audience  was  attentive,  and  he  pro 
ceeded  to  apply  the  law  to  the  facts  with  such  force  that  he  appeared  to 
leave  but  little  chance  of  escape  to  him  who  by  a  persistent  discharge  of 
duty  had  rendered  himself  obnoxious  to  the  slave  power.  Southern 
members  appeared  encouraged  and  confirmed  in  their  determination  to 
disgrace  this  aged  advocate  of  freedom,  while  his  northern  friends  were 
depressed  in  a  corresponding  degree ;  indeed,  when  they  reflected  upon 
the  spirit  manifested  by  the  entire  democratic  party  North  and  South, 
together  with  the  slaveholding  portion  of  the  whig  party,  there  appeared 
but  slight  expectations  of  defeating  these  efforts  to  prostrate  his  in 
fluence. 

Mr.  Adams  was  expected  to  state  the  grounds  of  his  own  vindication 
before  any  friend  could  venture  to  speak  in  his  defence  ;  accordingly, 
when  Marshall  closed,  he  rose  to  address  the  House,  and  as  that  gen- 


164:  MB.  ADAMS'S  BASIS  OF  DEFENCE, 

tleman  had  charged  him  with  high  treason,  and  represented  him  as 
seeking  to  overthrow  the  Government,  it  was  supposed  he  would  now 
reply  with  that  overwhelming  severity  for  which  he  was  distinguished  ; 
but  he  exhibited  no  such  desire.  When  the  Speaker  announced  that  he 
was  in  possession  of  the  floor,  all  eyes  were  instantly  upon  him.  His 
appearance  was  venerable  ;  he  was  dignified  in  his  bearing.  He  looked 
around  upon  his  peers,  who  sat  before  him  as  judges,  with  a  countenance 
beaming  with  kindness  :  he  had  long  served  his  countiy,  had  filled  the 
highest  office  on  earth  with  honor  to  himself  and  friends  ;  and  now,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-five  years,  he  stood  arraigned  on  a  charge  of  treason 
to  that  country  to  which  he  had  so  long  devoted  his  labors,  to  that  peo 
ple  whose  rights  he  was  seeking  to  maintain. 

At  length,  turning  to  the  Speaker,  he  said  :  "  It  is  no  part  of  my 
intention  to  reply  to  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  at  this  time.  I  pre 
fer  to  wait  until  I  learn  whether  the  House  will  retain  these  resolutions 
for  discussion.  I. call  for  the  reading  of  the  first  paragraph  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence."  The  Clerk  at  once  sought  the  book  con 
taining  it,  and  while  seeking,  Mr.  Adams  repeated,  "  the  first  paragraph 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence." 

The  Clerk  then  read  the  introductory  portion  of  the  Declaration,  and 
hesitatingly  turned  his  eyes  towards  Mr.  Adams,  as  if  to  inquire  whether 
he  should  read  further.  "  Read  on,  read  on !  down  to  the  RIGHT  and  the 
DUTY/'  said  the  aged  patriot ;  and  the  Clerk,  in  a  clear  and  distinct 
voice,  read  that  portion  which  declares  the  natural  rights  of  mankind 
and  asserts  that  governments  are  instituted  to  support  those  rights  ;  and 
with  peculiar  emphasis  he  read  the  sentence  which  declares,  "  that  when 
ever  any  form  of  government  becomes  destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the 
right  and  the  duty  of  the  people  to  alter  or  abolish  it  and  reorganize  its 
powers  in  such  form  as  to  them  shall  appear  most  likely  to  secure  their  inter 
est  and  happiness." 

Mr.  Adams  then  proceeded  to  state  that  our  Government  had  become 
destructive  to  the  lives  and  liberties  of  a  portion  of  the  people.  That  those 
powers  granted  to  secure,  had  been  prostituted  to  destroy  life  and  liberty: 
the  powers  ordained  to  the  support  of  freedom  had  been  prostituted  to  the 
maintenance  of  slavery.  That  the  people  had  the  right  to  reform  these 
abuses,  and  bring  the  Government  back  to  the  performance  of  those 
duties  for  which  it  was  instituted.  "  They  have  (said  he)  the  right  to 
ask  Congress  in  respectful  language  to  do  anything  which  they  in  good 
faith  believe  that  body  ought  to  perform  :  and  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress 
to  return  respectful  answers  to  such  petitions,  showing  the  reason  why 
their  prayers  cannot  be  granted." 


OBJECTS   OF   THE    SLAVE   POWER   DEFINED.  165 

He  declared  tha;t  the  people  were  oppressed  by  the  denial  of  the  right 
of  petition  and  the  suppression  of  debate,  and  "  if  this  discussion  is  to 
proceed  (said  he)  I  shall  ask  for  time  to  prepare  my  defence,  for  I  shall 
show  that  that  portion  of  the  country  from  which  these  gentlemen 
(Messrs.  Gilmer  and  Marshall)  come  are  endeavoring  to  destroy  the 
right  of  '  Habeas  Corpus7  and  of  trial  by  jury.  I  wish  (said  he)  to  look 
into  the  controversy  between  New  York  and  Virginia,  between  Georgia 
and  Maine,  and  show  there  is  a  persistent  intention  to  destroy  the  rights 
of  the  free.  States  and  to  force  slavery  upon  them." 

He  further  declared  his  intention  to  show  that  a  systematic  effort  was 
making  to  force  the  country  into  a  war  with  England  in  order  to  main 
tain  the  African  slave  trade.  He  asserted  that  for  the  restoration  of  the 
slave  trade,  our  minister  at  London  had  put  forth  the  most  fake  doc 
trines  as  constituting  the  law  of  nations.* 

And,  said  he,  if  our  rights  are  thus  to  be  taken  away  by  this  coalition 
between  southern  slaveholders  and  northern  democracy,  it  is  time  the  peo 
ple  should  send  their  petitions  here,  and  arouse  the  nation  to  protect  our 
constitutional  rights. 

As  Mr.  Adams  resumed  his  seat,  Mr.  Everett,  of  Yermont,  moved  a 
postponement  of  the  further  consideration  for  two  weeks,  to  enable  Mr. 
Adams  to  prepare  his  defence,  and  that  the  resolutions  of  Mr.  Marshall 
be  printed. 

Mr.  Wise  inquired  if  this  motion  was  not  debatable.  The  Speaker 
responded  in  the  affirmative,  and  Mr.  Wise  commenced  a  speech  in  favor 
of  adopting  the  resolutions  occupying  the  remainder  of  that  day,  and 
part  of  the  day  following. 

This  gentleman  had  long  exhibited  a  personal  hostility  towards  Mr. 
Adams,  and  he  now  appeared  to  think  the  present  a  most  favorable  op 
portunity  to  gratify  his  animosity.  He  charged  Mr.  Adams  with  con 
spiring  with  British  abolitionists  to  destroy  the  Union  ;  he  read  extracts 
from  newspapers  to  show  that  British  philanthropists  were  conspiring 
with  those  of  the  United  States  to  bring  about  a  war  between  the  two 

*  These  prophecies  were  all  literally  fulfilled  in  a  much  shorter  period  of  time  than  Mr.  Adams  or 
his  friend  then  expected.  The  right  of  petition  and  freedom  of  debate  had  been  already  stricken 
down.  The  fugitive  slave  law  of  1850  denied  the  right  of  "  Habeas  Corpus  "  and  that  of  trial  by 
jury,  and  strong  efforts  were  made  to  carry  slavery  into  the  free  States,  by  authorizing  the  master 
to  carry  his  slaves  through  such  States  and  to  reside  temporarily  with  them  in  such  States.  And  in 
May,  1857,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  by  resolution  denied  the  right  of  British  cruisers  to  visit 
an  American  vessel  sailing  under  American  colors  to  ascertain  whether  she  was  engaged  in  the 
African  slave  trade  or  not ;  and  by  this  means  that  commerce  was  for  some  years  practically  re 
stored,  and  slaves  were  openly  imported  into  our  southern  States.  And  although  the  law  declaring 
the  slave  trade  to  be  piracy  had  been  thirty  years  in  force,  no  man  had  been  executed  under  it 
until  the  Republicans  came  into  power  in  1SC1,  when  Captain  Gordon  was  hanged  in  New  York. 


166  MR.    ADAMS    REPLIES    TO    MARSHALL. 

governments  in  order  to  destroy  slavery  :  and  as  if  lie  thought  it  a 
crime,  declared  that  Mr.  Adams  had  said  that  in  case  of  a  slave  insur 
rection,  if  the  Federal  Government  was  called  on  to  suppress  it,  the 
Executive  might,  if  necessary  to  restore  peace,  emancipate  the  slaves  ?  To 
this  remark  Mr.  Adams,  retaining  his  seat,  replied  with  unusual  emphasis, 
"  Yes,  sir."*  He  spoke  of  the  world's  anti-slavery  convention  held  in 
Europe,  and  said  that  Governor  Gilmer  had  received  the  proceedings  of 
that  convention  under  the  frank  of  a  member  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  (Hon.  Seth  M.  Gates).  He  asserted  that  these  things  mani 
fested  a  design  to  break  down  slavery,  and  he  exhorted  the  democratic  party 
to  come  up  to  the  contest  and  put  down  abolition,  or  slavery  would  be 
destroyed,  and  the  great  democratic  principle  of  equality  among  men  would 
become  obsolete. 

Mr.  Adams  said  he  would  speak  at  that  time  only  upon  the  propriety 
of  retaining  the  resolution  for  debate  ;  and  he  replied  to  Mr.  Wise  with 
marked  severity,  saying  he  understood  that  gentleman  ;  that  he  had  come 
to  that  hall  two  or  three  years  previously  with  his  hands  dripping  with 
human  gore  ;  a  blotch  of  human  blood  was  upon  his  face.  Mr.  Wise 
appeared  incapable  of  forbearance  under  this  allusion  to  the  duel  in  which 
Mr.  Cilley  of  Maine  fell,  in  which  Wise  had  acted  as  second,  and  he  inter 
rupted  Mr.  Adams  several  times.  But  the  aged  statesman  occupied  little 
time  in  answering  Mr.  Wise,  as  he  evidently  felt  that  Mr.  Marshall's  address 
was  more  important.  He  spoke  of  that  gentleman  with  great  kindness, 
referred  to  the  friendship  which  had  existed  between  himself  and  the  ances 
tor  of  Mr.  Marshall,  the  late  Chief  Justice,  declaring  that  when  h<e  heard 
of  the  election  of  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  he  anticipated  a  renewal 
of  that  ancient  friendship.  He  spoke  of  Marshall  as  having  already 
won  an  enviable  fame  in  his  own  State  Legislature  by  his  earnest  sup 
port  of  human  freedom,  and  then  began  to  array  that  gentleman's  errors 
before  the  audience  ;  said  he  had  charged  him  with  "  high  treason,"  in 
the  preamble  of  the  resolution,  and  in  his  speech.  "  Now,"  said  he, 
"  thank  God  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  has  defined  high 
treason,  and  it  was  not  left  for  the  gentleman  of  Kentucky,  nor  for  his 
puny  mind,  to  define  that  crime,  which  consists  solely  in  levying  war 
against  the  United  States,  or  landing  aid  and  comfort  to  their  enemies. 

*  Eighteen  years  after  this  speech,  Mr.  Wise  was  acting  Governor  of  Virginia,  when  the  memor 
able  insurrection  under  John  Brown  broke  out,  carrying  consternation  and  dismay  throughout  the 
Old  Dominion.  Governor  Wise  carefully  avoided  calling  on  the  President  for  assistance,  yet  as 
sailed  the  President  for  not  sending  the  troops  of  the  United  States  to  assist  Virginia  in  suppressing 
the  rebellion.  The  President,  Mr.  Buchanan,  very  correctly  VJenied  that  he  could  do  so  until  called 
upon  officially.  Still  Mr.  Wiso  would  not  trust  a  northern  democratic  President,  lest  he  might 
emancipate  the  slaves  instead  of  slaying  them. 


A   SCENE    OF   HIGH   MOKAL    SUBLIMITY.  167 

I,  (said  he),  have  presented  a  respectful  petition  from  my  constituents, 
I  have  done  so  in  an  orderly  manner,  in  the  regular  course  of  business, 
in  obedience  to  my  sworn  duty,  and  the  gentleman  calls  this  levying 
war  !  !  !  Were  I  the  father  of  that  young  man  I  could  feel  no  more 
anxiety  for  his  welfare  than  I  do  now  ;  but  if  I  were  his  father  I  would 
advise  him  to  return  to  Kentucky  and  take  his  place  in  some  law  school, 
and  commence  the  study  of  that  profession  which  he  has  so  long  dis 
graced." 

Mr.  Marshall  now  saw  that  he  was  to  receive  the  full  force  of  the 
veteran's  severity  ;  and  as  if  to  bid  defiance  to  his  powers,  he  rose,  and 
folding  his  arms  across  his  breast,  looked  his  opponent  full  in  the  face. 
This  appeared  to  call  forth  all  the  reserved  powers  of  that  intellect  which 
had  attracted  the  attention  of  civilized  nations.  He  appeared  to  his  audi 
tors  to  rise  in  stature  j  his  eloquence  became  more  bold  and  lofty  ;  his 
invective  more  terrific.  He  referred  to  the  fact  that  Marshall  had 
attended  a  midnight  cabal  of  slaveholders,  and  by  the  influence  of  "  that 
ambition  which  o'erleaps  itself,"  had  consented  to  act  as  the  prosecutor 
in  endeavoring  to  prostrate  and  destroy  one  of  the  best  friends  he  had  on 
earth.  He  showed  him  an  ingrate,  and  as  he  became  warmed  up,  and 
rose  in  the  dignity  of  his  subject,  his  language,  and  thoughts,  a  breath 
less  silence  reigned  through  the  hall  and  in  the  vast  galleries.  There 
was  no  loud  breathing,  no  rustling  of  garments  ;  reporters  laid  down  their 
pens,  slaveholders  were  melted  to  tears.  Marshall  still  retained  his 
position,  "  a  standing  corpse  ;"  he  exhibited  no  other  sign  of  life  than  a 
nervous  tremor  which  pervaded  his  system. 

At  length  Mr.  Adams  concluded  and  resumed  his  seat,  while  Mar 
shall  remained  apparently  transfixed  and  unconscious  until  a  friend  inti 
mated  to  him  the  propriety  of  resuming  his  seat. 

From  this  moment  the  friends  of  Mr.  Adams  entertained  no  further 
apprehensions.  With  his  intelligence,  experience,  and  mental  power, 
basing  himself  on  truth,  justice,  and  human  rights,  they  were  willing  to 
trust  him  single-handed,  against  the  entire  democratic  party,  aided  by 
the  slave  power.  For  such  was  now  the  contest,  and  all  appeared  to 
feel  that  Marshall  was  the  champion  of  the  slave  power,  and  that  Mr. 
Adams  had  not  only  demolished  his  argument,  but  had  prostrated  his 
influence  in  Congress.* 

*  Marshall  was  exceedingly  sensitive  to  this  rebuke,  as  the  writer  had  full  evidence.  Soon  after 
the  scene  above  described,  he  came  across  the  hall  and  addressing  Hon.  John  Campbell,  of  South 
Carolina,  who  was  sitting  near  the  author,  said:  "  Campbell,  I  wish  I  were  dead."  "Oh,  no," 
says  Campbell,  "  you  are  too  sensitive."  "  I  do,"  said  Marshall,  with  an  oath ;  "  I  would  rather 
die  a  thousand  deaths  than  again  to  encounter  that  old  man." 

But  this  feeling  was  subsequently  expressed  in  different  language.     Mr.  Keim,  of  Pennsylvania, 


168  ME.    ADAMS   ASSAILS   THE   SLAVE   POWER. 

For  twenty  years  southern  members  had  threatened  the  dissolution  of 
the  Union  ;  had  frightened  northern  members  and  northern  people  by 
declaring  that  they  would  leave  the  Union  unless  the  northern  people 
would  cease  to  express  their  detestation  of  slavery,  and  the  slave  trade  ; 
while  now  they  were  thrown  into  convulsions  when  a  few  northern  citi 
zens  kindly  and  respectfully  asked  them  to  carry  their  threats  into 
practice.  Mr.  Adams  now  began  to  arraign  the  slave  power  ;  no  longer 
attempting  to  defend  himself,  he  boldly,  stood  forth  as  the  accuser  and 
prosecutor  of  the  slave  interests. 

He  charged  South  Carolina  and  other  slave  States  with  seizing  and 
enslaving  free  colored  citizens  of  the  northern  States,  in  violation  of  the 
Constitution,  and  presented  resolutions  calling  on  the  President  for  cer 
tain  documents  wherewith  to  establish  this  charge.  He  also  wished  for 
a  copy  of  the  letter  of  President  Tyler  to  William  Cost  Johnson, 
advising  him  to  support  the  twenty-first  rule  of  the  House.  These 
papers  he  deemed  necessary  for  his  defence,  and  the  House  adopted  his 
resolutions  ;  but  the  President  did  not  answer  them. 

Other  members  now  came  to  the  aid  of  Mr.  Adams  ;  Hon.  John  M. 
Botts,  of  Virginia,  alluded  to  the  fact  that  on  a  former  occasion  a  gen 
tleman  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Rhett)  had  'drawn  up  resolutions 
declaring  the  Union  dissolved  ;  and  was  only  prevented  from  presenting 
them  because  he  could  not  obtain  the  floor.  Mr.  Arnold,  of  Tennessee, 
also  sustained  Mr.  Adams,  upon  the  ground  that  the  twenty-first  rule 
was  itself  a  perfect  violation  of  the  Constitution. 

Mr.  Marshall  again  addressed  the  House,  evidently  preparing  the  way 
for  a  retreat  from  the  position  he  had  assumed.  On  the  3d  of  Feb 
ruary,  Mr.  Gilmer,  foreseeing  the  result,  publicly  proposed  to  Mr. 
Adams  to  withdraw  the  petition  which  he  had  presented,  and  pledging 
himself  in  such  case  to  withdraw  his  resolution  of  censure. 

Mr.  Adams  replied  that  he  had  presented  the  petition  from  a  sense 
of  public  duty,  from  which  he  could  not  excuse  himself ;  and  never 


as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  in  the  previous  Congress,  made  a  report  to 
which  Mr.  Adams  could  not  yield  assent,  and  in  speaking  upon  it,  alluded  pleasantly  to  some  literary 
defects.  Keim  was  irritated,  and  in  reply  assailed  the  literary  character  of  Mr.  Adams.  The  aged 
member  permitted  no  man  worthy  of  his  steel  to  assail  him  with  impunity,  and  he  replied  to  Keim 
in  a  very  different  style  from  that  in  which  he  had  spoken  of  Marshall.  He  put  on  the  facetious, 
and  reading  from  one  of  Sheridan's  Irish  plays,  represented  Keim  as  a  retired  military  officer,  and 
Boon  found  the  House  convulsed  with  laughter. 

At  this  time  Marshall  entered  the  front  door  of  the  hall,  and  observing  the  disorder,  turning  to  Mr. 
Merriwether,  of  Georgia,  who  was  sitting  beside  the  entrance,  inquired  the  cause.  Mr.  Merriwether 
answered  that  Keim,  of  Pennsylvania,  had  assailed  Mr.  Adams,  and  the  old  gentleman  was  now 
making  a  reply.  "  Well,  well,"  said  Marshall,  "  if  Keim  has  fallen  into  old  Adams'  hands,  all  I 
can  say  is  may  God  have  mercy  on  his  soul." 


ME.    ADAMS    STATES   HIS    DEFENCE.  169 

would  he  consent  to  violate  his  duty  in  order  to  obtain  the  favor  or  for 
bearance  of  any  man  or  number  of  men. 

Mr.  Adams  then  commenced  stating  his  defence  ;  he  cited  various 
acts  and  circumstances  showing  a  combination  to  remove  him  from  the 
post  of  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  ;  and  the  combi 
nation  of  southern  members  entered  into  on  the  evening  of  the  24th 
January,  to  prostrate  and  destroy  his  influence,  in  consequence  of  his 
advocacy  of  the  right  of  petition,  which  he  held  to  be  sacred. 

He  then  referred  to  the  fact  that  the  resolution  had  been  presented 
by  a  gentleman  from  Virginia  (Mr.  Gilmer)  ;  said  that  he  had  long 
entertained  a  high  respect  for  that  State,  from  the  confidence  which 
General  \Yashington  had  reposed  in  him  forty-eight  years  previously  f 
when  that  great  man  first  appointed  him  minister  to  the  Hague,  at  an 
age  so  young  that  he  was  called  "  the  ^-minister."  He  spoke  of  tire 
early  statesmen  of  Yirginia  with  admiration,  and  closed  his  remarks  for 
the  day  by  a  quotation  from  Moore,  saying  he  had  hoped  that  the  present 
delegation  from  that  State  would  have  felt  something  of  that 

"  Holy  shame  which  ne'er  forgets 

"What  clear  renown  it  used  to  wear, 
Whose  blush  remains  when  virtue  sets 
To  show  her  sunshine  has  been  there." 

On  the  following  day  Mr.  Adams  complained  that  his  remarks  were 
not  reported,  but  caricatured.  He  stated  that  from  the  commencement  of 
the  trial  he  had  been  misreported  ;  said  it  was  important  that  the  people 
should  know  what  was  passing  in  that  hall,  and  he  proposed  a  postpone 
ment  for  two  weeks  in  order  that  competent  reporters  may  be  obtained. 
He  declared  the  attempts  to  suppress  what  was  said  in  favor  of  liberty, 
constituted  good  reason  for  removing  the  seat  of  government  to  some 
free  State  where  slaveholding  influence  would  not  control  the  popular 
mind. 

Mr.  Marshall  opposed  the  proposition,  and  charged  Mr.  Adams  with 

NOTE.— It  was  during  this  day  that  William  Smith,  of  Virginia,  formerly  Governor  of  that  State, 
interrupting  Mr.  Adams,  said  he  vnshed  "  to  make  a  suggestion  for  the  benefit  of  the  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts."  Smith  was  a  man  of  not  very  elevated  character;  and  Mr.  Adams  looking  round 
upon  him  with  a  scowl  of  contempt,  replied,  "  Non  tali  auxilio."  Smith  had  forgotten  his  Latin, 
and  not  understanding  the  answer,  stood  in  mute  astonishment,  not  knowing  whether  to  speak  or 
say  nothing ;  but  finally  turning  to  Hon.  C.  M.,  who  sat  by  his  side,  inquired  what  the  expression 
meant.  The  gentleman  thus  addressed  was  an  incorrigible  punster,  and  promptly  replied,  "  He  is 
very  much  enraged,  and  is  telling  you  to  '  go  to  h — IV  "  Smith,  astonished  at  what  he  supposed 
the  profanity  of  Mr.  Adams,  dropped  back  into  his  seat,  and  was  never  known  to  interrupt  Mr. 
Adams  afterwards. 


170  REMARKS   OF  MB.   ADAMS   CARICATURED. 

having  said  in  the  face  of  a  British  nobleman*  that  the  claim  of  England 
to  the  right  of  search  was  just.  This  was  denied  by  Mr.  Adams,  who 
said  he  had  never  uttered  a  word  in  favor  of  the  right  of  search.f 

Marshall  then  insisted  that  Mr.  Adams  had  advocated  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  in  order  to  dissolve  the  Union,  and  Marshall  moved  the 
previous  question,  in  order  to  bring  the  House  to  a  direct  vote  on  the 
resolution  of  censure. 

Seeing  this  open  and  undisguised  attempt  to  suppress  whatever  he  had 
to  say  in  his  own  defence,  Mr.  Adams  demanded  the  floor  on  the  reso 
lution,  and  proceeded  with  his  remarks. 

In  the  meantime,  the  author  had  obtained  a  seat  inside  the  bar  for  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Leavitt,  a  very  competent  reporter,  who  thought  he  could 
report  Mr.  Adams  with  tolerable  accuracy.  But  Mr.  Andrews,  of  Ken 
tucky,  seeing  this,  called  on  the  Speaker  to  enforce  the  rule  prohibiting 
all  persons,  except  members  and  their  officers,  from  sitting  within  the 
bar.  This  was  also  done  with  the  undisguised  intention  to  suppress 
whatever  Mr.  Adams  might  say  on  that  occasion.  But  Mr.  Leavitt 
obtained  a  seat  outside  the  bar,  where  he  could  hear  Mr.  Adams,  took 
notes,  and  wrote  out  the  remarks  at  night,  and  they  appeared  in  one  of 
the  Boston  papers.  J 

Mr.  Adams  next  proceeded  to  expose  the  effect  of  slavery  upon  the 
pecuniary  interests  of  the  country — compared  New  York  with  Virginia. 
Spoke  of  the  schools,  academies  and  colleges  of  the  "  Empire  State," 
and  compared  them  with  the  paucity  of  those  institutions  in  "  the  Old 
Dominion."  He  then  referred  to  the  canals  and  railroads,  the  internal 
improvements,  the  industry,  thrift  and  general  prosperity,  together  with 
the  unlimited  commerce  of  New  York  :  then  to  the  miserable  highways, 
the  deserted  plantations,  the  degraded  slave  population,  dilapidated 
dwellings,  and  general  poverty  of  Virginia  :  of  the  intelligence  of  one 
State,  and  the  number  of  men  and  women  in  the  other  who  could  neither 
read  nor  write. 

*  Lord  Morpeth,  an  Irish  peer,  had  occupied  a  seat  politely  tendered  him  within  the  bar.  It  was 
in  his  presence  that  Mr.  Adams  had  charged  the  slaveholding  influence  of  the  House  and  Senate 
with  an  intention  to  involve  us  in  a  war  with  England  to  sustain  the  African  slave  trade. 

t  British  ministers  at  that  day  very  justly  claimed  that  as  slavedealers  were  pirates,  at  war  with 
mankind,  British  and  American  ships  of  war,  while  cruising  for  them,  on  meeting  with  a  suspected 
vessel,  had  the  right  to  stop  her,  and  ascertain  whether  she  was  really  a  pirate  or  engaged  in  law 
ful  commerce.  This  was  denied  by  the  democratic  Administration,  who  declared  that  such  right 
of  visitation  constituted  a  "right  of  search ;"  and  Marshall  adopted  this  language,  in  order  to 
assail  Mr.  Adams  more  effectually. 

%  Mr.  Leavitt  wrote  until  about  daylight,  when  he  brought  his  manuscript  to  the  author,  who 
franked  it  to  the  "  Boston  Courier,"  at  that  time  published  by  Mr.  Buckingham,  a  man  of  great 
integrity  of  purpose,  an  independent  and  able  editor.  He  inserted  the  remarks,  which  occupied 
nearly  one  page  of  the  paper,  and  will  be  found  in  that  publication  of  about  the  5th  February,  1842. 


QUESTION   OF   ORDER   OVERRULED.  171 

It  became  evident  that  slaveholders  and  Democrats  were  greatly  dis 
satisfied  with,  the  whole  proceeding.  After  laboring  six  or  seven  years 
to  suppress  debate,  and  just  at  the  time  when  they  supposed  they  had 
consummated  that  object,  they  had  inadvertently  thrown  the  door  wide 
open,  had  placed  themselves,  as  it  were,  at  the  mercy  of  him  who  was 
most  able  and  most  willing  to"expose  the  entire  despotism  of  slavery. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  Hon.  Romulus  M.  Saunders, 
of  JSTorth  Carolina,  called  Mr.  Adams  to  order  for  thus  comparing  slave 
and  free  States,  which  he  declared  to  be  in  no  way  germain  to  the 
question  of  censure. 

The  Speaker,  with  great  force,  alluded  to  the  fact  that  the  petition 
presented  by  Mr.  Adams  asked  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  on  account 
of  slavery.  That  the  whole  proceeding  and  all  the  arguments  had  been 
intended  to  uphold  or  to  put  down  that  institution,  and  while  a  member 
was  on  trial  under  such  charges,  the  Chair  would  not  attempt  to  limit 
his  defence.  Mr.  Saunders  appealed,  but  the  House  sustained  the 
decision  of  the  Speaker. 

After  the  adjournment,  Mr.  Adams  desired  to  obtain  a  copy  of  the 
correspondence  between  Governor  Seward,  of  New  York,  and  the 
Governor  of  Virginia,  upon  the  subject  of  surrendering  persons  for  trial 
in  Virginia,  who  were  charged  with  stealing  slaves.  Mr.  Gates  volun 
teered  to  furnish  all  the  documents  in  regard  to  that  matter,  and  Mr. 
Adams  intended* placing  that  subject  before  the  country  on  the  follow 
ing  day. 

"But  on  the  next  morning,  as  he  rose  to  commence  his  remarks, 
Mr.  Merriwether,  of  Georgia,  desired  permission  to  make  an  inquiry. 
He  stated  that  some  ten  or  twelve  days  had  been  spent  in  this  trial : 
that  he  was  ready  to  vote  on  the  .resolution  at  any  moment,  and  so  were 
all  the  southern  members.  That  Mr.  Adams  himself  was  now  occupy 
ing  much  time,  and  putting  the  nation  to  much  expense,  and  he  desired 
to  understand  how  much  longer  time  he  expected  to  occupy  in  stating 
his  defence  ? 

Mr.  Adams  denied  being  responsible  for  one  moment  of  the  time  spent 
in  the  debate.  He  declared  that  the  resolution  of  censure  was  intro 
duced  without  his  consent  and  against  his  desire.  That  he  objected  to 
taking  jurisdiction  of  it,  declared  the  House  om  Jb  not  to  entertain  it 
for  a  moment,  and  had  during  the  whole  tria!\  been  willing  at  any 
moment  to  give  way  for  a  motion  to  lay  the  su'^ect  on  the  table  :  and 
as  to  the  time  he  would  occupy  in  stating  his v  defence,  he  could  not 


5 

arraigned  before  the  British  Parliament,  the  trial  occupied  several  years, 


attempt  to  fix  any  precise  period.     When  Sir  tfarren  Hastings  was 


172  CLOSE   OF   THE  TRIAL. 

and  Mr.  Burke  occupied  some  three  months  in  one  speech.  He  thought 
those  precedents  perfectly  applicable  to  the  present  case,  but  he  would 
pledge  himself  to  close  the  statement  of  his  defence  at  the  earliest 
moment  he  could  do  so,  consistently  with  duty  to  himself  and  the  public, 
and  he  thought  it  probable  he  might  close  in  ninety  days. 

This  enunciation  opened  up  to  his  persecutors  a  new  field  of  thought. 
He  had  already  spent  three  days  in  arraigning  the  institution  of  slavery 
and  its  supporters  :  and  now  proposed  to  continue  that  exposure  for 
three  months  longer.  While  the  people  were  dissatisfied  with  their 
representatives  for  spending -so  much  time  and  money  in  a  useless  attempt 
to  censure  an  aged  and  venerable  member  :  while  to  recede  would  be 
an  acknowledgment  of  the  victory  which  he  was  evidently  about  to 
obtain. 

But  Mr.  Botts,  of  Yirginia,  moved  to  lay  the  whole  subject  on  the 
table,  and  his  motion  was  sustained  by  a  vote  of  106  to  93. 

During  the  trial,  Mr.  Adams  had  become  greatly  exhausted.  He 
informed  his  friends  that  during  some  of  the  nights  he  slept  none,  and  it 
was  greatly  feared  that  he  would  not  survive  the  struggle.  But  the 
writer  and  other  friends  believed  that  if  he  died  under  this  persecution, 
he  would  do  more  for  the  cause  of  liberty  than  he  could  in  any  other 
way,  and  to  this  he  did  not  object.  But  he  had  now  met  the  advocates 
of  slavery  upon  their  chosen  field  of  combat,  had  driven  them  from  the 
conflict,  and  his  victory  was  not  only  complete  but  important.  The 
right  of  petition  was  substantially  regained,  although  the  twenty-first 
rule  was  not  repealed  until  some  two  years  subsequently. 


V 


THE   SLAVE   TKADE    ON   OUK   OWN   COAST. 


173 


CHAPTER  XI. 

ARRAIGNMENT,    TEIAL   AND    CENSURE    OF   THE    AUTHOR. 

ui««-  1808  Congress  had  authorized  the  coastwise  slave  trade,  ,1842 
which  had  now  become  an  important  commerce  between  the  north 
ern  slave-growing  States  and  the  southern  or  slave-consuming  members 
of  the  confederacy.  In  the  prosecution  of  this  "  American  piracy/7  it 
was  estimated  that  not  less  than  twenty-five  thousand  human  beings  were 
annually  transported  from  the  States  of  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  either  by  land  or 
water,  to  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
.Louisiana,  Texas  and  Arkansas,  where  they  were  sold  to  supply  the 
places  of  those  who  had  fallen  into  premature  graves,  by  reason  of 'the 
hardships,  privations  and  excessive  toil  to  which  they  were  subjected. 

By  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  as  has  already  been  shown,  the  British  and 
American  Governments  had  pledged  themselves  to  the  Christian  world 
to  use  their  best  endeavors  totally  to  abolish  the  "  traffic  in  slaves." 
The  Commissioners  who  negotiated  that  treaty  appear  to  have  been 
impressed  with  the  idea  that  the.  crime  consisted  in  buying  and  selling 
God's  image,  and  not  in  the  place  of  perpetrating  it. 

Yet  after  the  approval  of  that  treaty,  our  Government  continued  to 
encourage  the  transportation  and  sale  of  slaves  upon  our  own  coast, 
although  the  African  slave  trade  was  made  piracy  by  statute  ;  notwith 
standing,  it  was  far  less  painful  to  the  pagans  of  Africa  than  our  domestic 
commerce  was  to  the  christianized  victims  of  America. 

Although  our  Government,  m  violation  of  treaty  stipulations,  and  in 
violation  of  our  Federal  Constitution  as  well  as  of  justice  and  Christian 
ity,  lent  encouragement  to  this  domestic  piracy,  yet  it  was  subjected  to 
many  casualties.  In  passing  around  the  peninsula  of  Florida,  our  slave 
ships  were  sometimes  wrecked  on  British .  islands  :  and  the  slaves  once 
treading  British  soil,  by  virtue  of  English  laws  became  free :  and  the 
dealers  in  human  flesh  were  ruined  from  the  failure  of  their  speculations 
in  the  bodies  of  men  and  of  women. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  became  the  interest  of  slaveholders  to 
obtain  the  cooperation  of  the  government  of  Great  Britain,  in  direct 
coiillict  with  the  treaty  of  Ghent.  The  subject  was  brought  before  Con 
gress  in  the  following  manner  : 


174:  LOSS    OF   SLAVE    SHIPS. 

In  the  year  A.D.  1830,  the  ship  "  Comet "  sailed  from  Alexandria,  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  with  a  cargo  of  slaves  and  property  bound  for 
New  Orleans.  She  was  wrecked  on  the  false  keys  of  the  Bahama 
Islands,  and  the  passengers  and  slaves  were  carried  by  the  wreckers  to 
Nassau,  in  the  island  of  New  Providence,  where  the  slaves  sought  their 
own  happiness  under  British  laws. 

"  The  Encomium"  also  sailed  in  1834  from  Charleston,  South  Caro 
lina,  with  a  number  of  slaves  for  New  Orleans,  was  stranded  near  the 
same  place,  and  the  slaves  were  released  in  the  same  manner.* 

The  slaveholders  called  on  General  Jackson,  then  President  of  the 
United  States,  to  obtain  for  them  a  compensation  for  this  loss  of  their 
human  cargo.  The  President  appears  to  have  entertained  no  doubt 
that  these  slavedealers,  whom  the  common  sentiment  of  civilized  nations 
regarded  as  unworthy  of  human  association,  and  deserving  only  of  the 
halter  and  gallows,  ought  to  be  encouraged  and  sustained  in  the  pursuit 
of  their  vocation. f  Mr.  Yan  Buren,  at  that  time  Secretary  of  State, 
in  pursuance  of  executive  instructions,  transmitted  orders  to  our  minister 
at  the  court  of  St.  James,  to  press  these  claims  upon  the  attention  of 
the  British  minister,  saying,  "they  were  among  the  matters  most  imme 
diately  pressing  upon  the  attention  t>f  our  Legation  at  London^ 

Mr.  Stevenson,  of  Virginia,  was  at  that  time  representative  of  our 
Government  at  the  British  court.  He  had  been  bred  and  educated  in 
that  political  school  which  regarded  slavery  as  the  principal  object  of 
government,  which  should  at  all  times  receive  its  fostering  care.  He 
appears  to  have  entered  upon  the  advocacy  of  these  slavedealing  claims, 
without  very  scrupulous  attention  to  the  facts  which  he  asserted,  or  the 
law  which  he  professed  to  maintain. 

In  his  correspondence  with  the  British  Government,  he  asserted  that 
"  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  slaves  are  regarded  as 
'property:1  that  there  is  in  fact  no  distinction  between  property  in 
'  persons '  and  '  property  in  things.' n  He  went  on  to  assert  that  our 

*  Mr.  Benton,  in  his  "Thirty  Years,"  represents  these  slaves  as  forcibly  detained  by  the  British 
officers  :  while  the  British  authorities  asserted  that  the  slaves  preferred  to  remain  on  the  island,  and 
there  was  no  authority  known  in  British  legislation  to  send  them  away.  But  Mr.  Benton,  holding 
that  slaves  were  " property ,"  in  the  same  sense  that  inanimate  goods  were  regarded,  the  refusal 
of  the  British  officers  to  seize  and  deliver  them  to  their  masters  was,  in  his  mind,  in  law  a  forcible 
retention. 

t  Mr.  Benton,  in  his  "  Thirty  Years,"  says  that  the  slaves  on  board  the  "  Encomium^"  belonged 
to  Messrs.  Waddels,  of  North  Carolina,  who  were  among  the  most  respectable  inhabitants  of  that 
State. 

$  There  is  no  doubt  that  General  Jackson  did  regard  the  support  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade 
among  the  moat  important  interests  of  our  country;  nor  is  it  doubted  that  he  was  sincere. 
But  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  Mr.  Van  Buren,  who  was  educated  in  the  free  States  and  in  the 
doctrines  of  liberty,  should  have  entertained  this  view  of  the  slave  trade. 


MINISTERIAL   FALSEHOOD.  175 

Government  had  "  in  the  most  solemn  manner  determined  that  slaves  killed 
in  the  public  service  of  the  United  States,  even  in  time  of  war,  were  to  be 
regarded  as  property,  and  paid  for  as  such."  * 

When  Mr.  Stevenson  made  this  declaration,  the  records  and  history 
of  the  nation  showed  that  instead  of  paying  for  slaves,  Congress  had  in 
every  instance  refused  such  payment.  Yet  by  these  misrepresentations, 
the  British  minister  was  led  to  pay  for  the  slaves  lost  from  on  board  the 
" Comet"  and  "  Encomium,"  as  they  were  stranded  prior  to  the  emanci 
pation  of  the  West  Indian  slavery,  and  both  governments  violated  their 
solemn  pledge  "  to  use  their  best  endeavors  for  the  entire  abolition  of 
the  traffic  in  slaves." 

But  the  British  minister  refused  to  pay  for  the  slaves  lost  from  on 
board  the  ship  "  Enterprise,"  which  the  reader  will  recollect  ran  into 
Port  Hamilton,  Bermuda,  through  stress  of  weather  in  1835,  after  the 
emancipation  of  British  slavery.  This  refusal  was  entirely  unsatisfactory 
to  the  slaveocracy  of  the  United  States,  which  saw  in  it  a  progress  of 
human  thought  that  would  eventually  destroy  the  institution,  if  permitted 
to  increase  and  strengthen.  This  jealousy  was  yet  farther  stimulated 
by  the  loss  of  slaves  from  on  board  the  "  Hermosa,"  which  sailed  from 
Richmond,  Virginia,  in  1840,  and  was  wrecked  on  the  British  island 
Abacco,  when  the  slaves,  passengers  and  crew  were  taken  to  Nassau, 
and  the  slaves  obeyed  the  dictates  of  nature's  law  by  asserting  their  own 
liberty. 

Mr.  Barrow,  of  Louisiana,  had  presented  the  petition  of  certain  insu 
rance  companies  in  that  State,  praying  Congress  to  take  measures  for 
obtaining  compensation  from  the  British  Government  for  the  loss  of  the 
slaves  from  the  last-mentioned  ship.  That  Senator  stated  in  explicit 
language  that  the  case  might  present  the  question  of  peace  or  war  with 
Great  Britain :  he  declared  the  people  of  the  southern  States  were  the 
last  to  submit  to  the  principles  of  international  law  as  construed  by  the 
authorities  of  the  British  Islands  ;  and  said,  if  they  continued  to  inter 
fere  with  our  commerce  our  navy  would  sink  them  I 

Mr.  Calhoun  and  other  Senators  concurred  in  the  views  of  Mr.  Bar 
row,  and  referred  the  memorial  to  the  "  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs," 

*  Mr.  Stevenson  was  Speaker  of  the  House  in  1828,  when  the  case  of  D'Autrieve  was  so  long  and 
ably  debated.  It  was  the  only  case  which  at  the  date  of  this  correspondence  had  been  decided  by 
Congress  on  full  debate.  And  in  that  case  the  doctrine  that  slaves  were  "property,"  was  very 
emphatically  denied,  as  the  reader  will  recollect.  Of  these  facts,  Mr.  Stevenson  could  not  have 
been  ignorant.  But  when  he  asserted  that  slaves  killed  in  the  public  service  had  been  recognized 
as  property,  and  paid  for  as  such,  he  asserted  that  which  was  not  only  unsustained  by  the  record 
and  history  of  our  Government,  but  that  which  wan  distinctly  opposed  by  both  history  and  the, 
records  of  the  nation,  for  our  Government  had  refused  such  payment  just  so  often  as  Congress  had 
been  applied  to  for  it. 


176  CASE   OF   THE 

but  advised  the  parties  concerned  to  await  the  action  of  the  British 
Government  in  the  case  of  the  "  Creole." 

This  ship  had  sailed  from  "  Hampton  Roads"  on  the  27th  October, 
1841,  with  one  hundred  and  thirty  slaves  on  board  bound  for  New 
Orleans.  On  the  7th  November  the  slaves  rose  against  the  officers  and 
crew,  declared  their  right  to  freedom,  taking  possession  of  the  deck  of 
the  ship  at  the  same  tune.  The  alarm  being  heard  below,  one  of  the 
slavedealers  named  Hewell,  who  attempting  as  he  came  on  deck  to  shoot 
one  of  the  men,  was  stricken  with  a  handspike  and  killed.  The  other 
slavedealers,  captain  and  crew  surrendered,  and  these  people  called 
"  chattels"  were  by  the  force  of  their  own  right  arms,  suddenly  trans 
formed  into  free  men  and  free  women  ;  and  by  the  same  turn  of  the 
wheel  of  fortune,  the  captain,  crew  and  slavedealers  were  changed  from 
lordling  masters  and  dealers  in  human  flesh  into  submissive  vassals,  in 
every  proper  sense  slaves,  of  their  former  bondmen.* 

They  now  ordered  the  mate  at  first  to  steer  the  ship  to  Liberia  j  but, 
being  assured  that  their  provisions  and  water  would  not  last  them  half 
way,  they  consented  to  enter  the  port  of  Nassau.  Being  under  British 
laws,  they  were  of  course  liberated  from  slavery,  went  on  shore,  and 
sought  their  own  happiness.  The  men,  however,  who  actually  rose  in 
arms  and  took  possession  of  the  ship,  were  arrested  and  imprisoned. 
The  captain  of  the  "  Creole  "  demanded  them  as  criminals  to  be  brought 
back  to  the  United  States  for  punishment ;  but  the  authorities  of  the 
island  refused  until  they  should  consult  the  imperial  government  at 
London.f 

*  Mr.  Benton,  in  his  "  Thirty  Years  "  (vol.  ii.  p.  409),  appropriates  an  entire  chapter  to  this  case ; 
In  which  he  appears  to  think  it  necessary  for  the  vindication  of  himself  and  those  who  acted  with 
him,  to  speak  of  the  slaves  as  "  mutineers,'1''  bound  by  the  same  laws  to  which  voluntary  passen 
gers  were  subjected  ;  entirely  ignoring  the  fact  that  slavery  is  based  upon  no  law  but  that  of  bruU 
fbrc# :  that  all  publicists  and  all  impartial  men  understood  it  to  be  a  perpetual  war  between  mas 
ter  and  slave,  in  which  the  master  is  seeking  by  all  the  means  which  God  and  nature  have  placed 
at  his  control,  to  hold  the  slave  in  subjection  to  his  own  will,  and  if  necessary  he  uses  the  scourge 
and  fetters  and  chains,  and  even  slays  his  victim  if  he  resist.  While  the  only  possible  bearing  of 
municipal  law  in  his  favor  is  to  exempt  the  master  from  temporal  punishment  for  the  crimes  which 
he  commits  against  the  slave ;  but  leaves  the  master  with  all  his  moral  guilt  upon  him.  That  it 
cannot  and  does  not  impose  upon  the  slave  any  moral  obligation  to  submit  to  the  outrages,  or  to 
abstain  from  avenging  the  wrongs  perpetrated  against  him.  But  this  view  of  slavery  docs  not  ap 
pear  to  have  been  at  any  time  entertained  by  the  author  of  the  "  Thirty  Years  :"  nor  does  he  appear 
to  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  combat  this  doctrine  when  advanced  by  others.  Indeed,  Mr.  Calhoun 
Is  believed  to  be  the  only  slaveholder  of  character  bold  enough  to  attempt  what  he  supposed  a  logi 
cal  refutation  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  But  when  that  distinguished 
»tatesman  undertook  to  refute  the  assertion  "  that  all  men  are  created  equal,"  by  saying  that 
"  men  were  not  created — that  children  only  are  created"  he  was  supposed  to  have  belittled  hit 
own  intellect  rather  than  the  truths  which  he  combated. 

t  Mr.  Benton,  in  the  chapter  alluded  to  in  the  previous  note,  appears  indignant  at  the  idea  that 
these  local  authorities  were  to  consult  the  British  Government?  He  says,  "this  was  tantamount 
to  an  acquittal  or  even  a  justification  of  all  they  had  done,"  whimsically  adding,  "  as  according  to 


POSITION  OF  BOTH  AMEKICAN  AND  BRITISH  GOVERNMENTS.      177 

The  slaves,  once  free,  demanded  their  baggage  ?  The  master  of  the 
ship  declared  they  had  no  baggage,  that  they  were  themselves  the  property 
of  the  masters,  and  of  course  could  hold  no  property  ;  but  the  British 
authorities  compelled  him  to  deliver  to  each  negro  his  blanket  and  such 
clothing  as  he  had  possession  of  while  on  board.* 

The  slavedealers  returned  to  the  United  States,  and  at  once  called  on 
President  Tyler,  demanding  the  interposition  of  the  Government  to  ob 
tain  compensation  for  this  failure  of  their  speculation  in  human  flesh. 

It  is  believed  that  neither  the  President  nor  the  Secretary  of  State, 
Mr.  Webster,  entertained  any  doubts  as  to  the  legal  or  moral  character 
of  the  transaction  :  nor  do  they  appear  to  have  suspected  that  for  them 
to  espouse  the  cause  of  these  piratical  slavedealers,  to  encourage  them  in 
their  vocation  by  calling  on  the  British  Government  to  pay  them  for  the 
bodies  of  those  men  and  women  who  were  lost  to  slavery  and  gained  to 
freedom,  would  affect  our  character  among  civilized  nations. 

The  case  was  one  in  all  respects  calculated  to  test  the  principles  and 
the  policy  of  both  governments.  These  people  had  been  held  in  servi 
tude,  were  sold  and  bought  by  these  slavedealers,  and  were  being  trans 
ported  to  market.  There  was  no  law  of  the  United  States  professing  to 
give  authority  to  those  hucksters  in  human  flesh  to  hold  their  victims  in 
subjection  ;  and  had  there  been  such  enactment,  it  would  not  have  im 
posed  on  them  any  natural  or  moral  obligation  to  submit  to  being  thus 
carried  to  the  barracoons  of  New  Orleans.  They  held  the  natural  and 
inalienable  right,  derived  from  the  Creator,  to  live  and  to  enjoy  their 
liberty.  The  American  and  British  Governments  were  bound  by  their 
solemn  pledge  given  to  the  Christian  world  in  the  treaty  of  Ghent  to  use 
their  best  efforts  "  totally  to  abolish  the  traffic  in  slaves,"  rather  than 
encourage  it. 

The  subject  excited  much  interest  and  solicitude  on  the  part  of  both 
slaveholders  and  the  advocates  of  liberty  ;  indeed,  the  Christian  world 
felt  a  deep  solicitude  on  the  subject,  particularly  members  of  the  various 
Protestant  churches,  for  there  were  said  to  be  members  of  the  Methodist, 
Baptist  and  Presbyterian  churches  among  the  people  thus  set  free. 

But  the  Senate,  by  resolution,  called  on  the  President  for  the  corres- 

all  British  decisions,  a  slave  has  a  rlgJit  to  kill  Ms  master  to  obtain  his  freedom  ?"  Yet,  indig 
nant  as  Mr.  Benton  appears  to  have  been  at  these  decisions,  it  is  believed  that  neither  he  nor  any 
other  casuist  of  the  present  age  has  dared  to  deny  that  the  slave  clearly  possesses  this  moral  right 
to  slay  his  master  if  necessary  to  obtain  his  liberty. 

*  The  negroes,  by  all  international  and  natural  law,  were  entitled  to  the  ship  and  cargo,  as  law 
ful  prize ;  and  all  that  the  captain  and  crew  could  legally  claim  in  a  neutral  port  was  their  own 
pertonal  liberty.  But  it  would  seem  that  the  British  authorities  were  unwilling  to  strike  that  blow 
at  the  barbarism  of  slavery,  as  were  our  American  philanthropists  in  the  case  of  the  "  Amistad,"  to 
which  the  attention  of  the  reader  was  called  in  a  former  chapter. 

12 


ITS 

pondence  between  our  Government  and  that  of  England  in  regard  to 
this  matter,  and  in  answer  to  this  call  the  Executive  transmitted  to  that 
body  a  copy  of  the  instructions  sent  by  our  Secretary  of  State  to  Mr. 
Everett,  our  minister  at  London,  which,  in  justice  to  the  President  as 
well  as  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  we  give  the  substance  in  the  language 
of  that  distinguished  officer  : 

"  The  British  Government,"  says  Mr.  Webster,  "  cannot  but  see  that 
this  case,  as  presented  in  these  papers,  is  one  calling  loudly  for  redress. 
The  '  Creole'  was  passing  from  one  port  in  the  United  States  to  another 
on  a  voyage  perfectly  lawful*  with  merchandise  on  board,  and  also  with 
slaves  or  persons  bound  to  service,  natives  of  America,  and  belonging  to 
American  citizens,  and  which  are  recognized  as  property  ly  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  in  those  States  in  which  slavery  exists."^ 

"  In  the  course  of  the  voyage  some  of  the  slaves  rose  upon  the  master 
and  crew,  subdued  them,  murdered  one  man,  and  caused  the  vessel  to  be 
carried  to  Nassau.  The  vessel  was  thus  taken  to  a  British  port,  not 
voluntarily  by  those  who  had  the  lawful  authority  over  her,  but  forcibly 
and  violently  against  the  master's  will,  and  with  the  consent  of  nobody 
but  the  mutineers  and  murderers.^ 

*  Mr.  Webster  nor  his  friends  never  condescended  to  show  how  a  vessel  engaged  in  the  "  traffic 
in  slaves  "  could  be  engaged  in  a  " perfectly  lawful  voyage  "  while  "  the  supreme  law  of  the  land 
had  prohibited  it ;  nor  did  they  ever  attempt  to  show  by  what  course  of  reasoning  human  enact 
ment  could  change  the  imperscriptible  right  of  men  to  life  and  liberty,  which  nature  and  nature's 
God  has  conferred  on  every  human  soul. 

t  This  assertion  is  wholly  inexplicable.  Mr.  Webster  certainly  knew  that  so  far  from  recognizing 
slaves  as  property,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  had,  in  every  instance,  referred  to  them  as 
"persons  "  and  not  as  "property."  Nor  could  he  have  been  ignorant  that  in  framing  that  instru 
ment  Mr.  Madison  had  declared  "  it  wrong  to  admit  in  the  Constitution  that  man  can  hold 
property  in  man"  and  that  every  member  of  the  Convention  acquiesced  in  this  view. 

$  It  is  most  extraordinary  that  a  high  officer  of  state,  a  man  of  the  dignity  of  deportment  and  of 
language  which  usually  characterized  Mr.  Webster,  should,  in  an  official  communication  have  used 
epithets  calculated  to  influence  only  the  vulgar  and  stupid  portion  of  the  community.  He  well  under 
stood  that  a  "  mutineer  "  was  one  who,  being  under  lawful  subjection  to  a  superior  officer,  rises  in 
resistance  to  such  authority ;  that  a  "  murderer  "  is  one  who,  with  malice  aforethought,  willfully 
slays  another  who  is  observing  the  public  peace.  But  all  must  have  been  aware  that  there  was  no 
law  of  any  legislature  or  government  commanding  these  people  to  obey  the  slavedealers,  or  the  cap 
tain  of  the  ship.  The  slave  laws  of  Virginia  exerted  jurisdiction  over  them  while  in  that  State,  or 
within  a  marine  league  of  its  shores ;  but  when  they  passed  beyond  that  line,  and  the  ship  entered 
upon  the  "  high  seas,"  no  laws  but  those  of  the  United  States  had  authority  on  board ;  and  surely 
no  statute  of  this  Government  gave  the  slavedealers  authority  to  flog,  or  fetter,  or  slay  these  vic 
tims  of  a  barbarous  usage,  sustained  only  by  crime  and  brute  force.  Even  the  statute  authorizing 
the  transportation  of  slaves  from  one  port  to  another,  merely  exempts  the  slavedealers  from  tempo 
ral  punishment,  but  it  did  not  profess  to  establish  any  authority  of  the  master  over  the  slave  ;  nor 
did  it  impose  upon  the  slave  obedience  to  the  piratical  dealer  who  transports  him  from  one  market 
to  another ;  and  so  far  as  the  relations  of  the  slaves  and  masters  were  concerned,  both  were  left  to 
the  dictates  of  "  natural  justice ;"  neither  having  any  authority  over  the  other,  but  both  were 
morally  bound  to  "do  unto  the  others  as  they  would  have  the  others  do  unto  them."  And  when 
the  masters  persisted  in  holding  their  slaves  in  bondage  and  in  carrying  them  to  market,  the 
slaves  had  the  right  to  resist  with  just  so  much  force  as  was  necessary  to  maintain  their  lives  and 
liberties. 


CASE   KEFEKKED   TO   COMMITTEE.  179 

"  Under  these  circumstances,  it  would  seem  to  have  been  the  plain  and 
obvious  duty  of  the  authorities  at  Nassau,  the  port  of  a  friendly  power, 
to  assist  the  American  consul  in  putting  an  end  to  the  captivity  of  the 
master  and  crew,*  restoring  to  them  the  control  of  the  vessel,  and  ena 
bling  them  to  resume  their  voyage  and  to  take  the  '  mutineers  and  mur 
derers  '  to  their  own  country  to  answer  for  their  crimes  before  the 
proper  tribunal."'}' 

When  the  message  of  the  President  and  this  letter  of  instructions  to 
our  Minister  at  London  were  read  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Calhoun  rose  and, 
expressing  his  gratification,  said,  "  The  letter  covered  the  whole  ground 
assumed  by  all  parties  in  the  Senate,  on  the  subject,  and  he  hoped  it 
would  have  a  beneficial  effect,  not  only  in  the  United  States,  but  in 
Great  Britain.  Coming  from  the  quarter  it  did,  this  document  would 
do  more  than  in  coming  from  any  other  quarter."  The  message  was 
then  referred  to  the  appropriate  committee. 

These  proceedings  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  Executive  endeavoring  to 
place  our  Government  before  the  nations  of  the  world  in  the  attitude  of 
patronizing  and  sustaining  "  a  commerce  in  our  own  species,"  struck  the 
author  with  the  most  profound  astonishment.  Senators  had  openly 
declared  that  "  the  question  might  become  one  of  peace  or  war}1  Avow 
ing  distinctly  their  intention  to  involve  our  nation  in  a  war  to  support 
this  "  commerce  in  mankind,"  if  Great  Britain  did  not  quietly  consent  to 
sustain  it  in  her  ports,  and  in  that  body  not  a  solitary  voice,  except  that 
of  Mr.  Porter,  of  Michigan,  had  been  raised  against  this  support  of  a 
barbarous  traffic  ;  and  all  expected  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs 
in  the  Senate  would  reiterate  these  doctrines  which  had  been  expressed 
in  the  case  of  the  "  Enterprise,"  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  all  debate  on  this  subject  was  pro 
hibited.  The  Representatives  of  the  people  were  not  permitted  to  expose 
these  attempts  to  subject  the  nation  to  the  odium  of  sustaining  the  slave 
trade,  in  the  open  sunshine  of  intelligence  and  civilization  which  charac 
terized  the  forenoon  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


*  All  the  statements  show  and  admit  that  the  negroes  did  not  pretend  to  hold  the  master  or  crew 
in  captivity  one  moment  longer  than  was  necessary  to  secure  their  own  freedom ;  but  soon  as  they 
reached  the  port,  and  came  under  British  authority,  the  negroes  released  them,  not  waiting  for  the 
authorities  of  Nassau  to  ask  or  demand  their  release. 

t  This  assertion  of  Mr.  Wehster,  substantially  declaring  it  the  duty  of  the  British  authorities  to 
aid  these  slavedealers  in  their  piratical  vocation ;  and  that  for  the  reason  that  that  nation  was  at  peace 
with  ours,  it  became  their  duty  to  aid  in  carrying  on  this  "  traffic  in  slaves  "  in  open  and  undis 
guised  violation  of  the  solemn  treaty  stipulations  between  the  two  governments,  was  so  extra 
ordinary  that  the  British  Ministry  refused  to  enter  into  further  correspondence  than  merely  to 
refuse  compensation.  This  is  the  apparent  state  of  the  negotiation,  for  the  public  have  not  yet 
been  favored  with  the  reply  to  the  demand  of  Mr.  Everett,  or  that  any  reply  was  made. 


180  THE  AUTHOR'S  PROPOSITIONS. 

1842  ]  Under  these  circumstances  the  author  determined  to  make  his 
own  opinions  understood  in  such  manner  as  best  he  might. 

For  this  purpose  he  drew  up  certain  propositions,  which  appear  to  have 
become  so  essential  to  the  history  of  important  incidents  then  transpiring 
in  our  Government,  and  between  the  American  and  British  Govern 
ments,  as  to  warrant  their  insertion.  They  were  expressed  in  the  follow 
ing  language  : 

"  Resolved,  That  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution^ 
each  of  the  several  States  composing  this  Union  exercised  full  and  exclu 
sive  jurisdiction  over  the  subject  of  slavery  within  its  own  territory,  and 
possessed  full  power  to  continue  or  abolish  it  at  pleasure. 

"  2d,  That  by  adopting  the  Constitution,  no  part  of  the  aforesaid 
powers  were  delegated  to  the  Federal  Government,  but  were  reserved 
by,  and  still  pertain  to  each  of  the  several  States. 

"  3d,  That  by  the  eighth  section  of  the  first  article  of  the  Federal 
Constitution,  each  of  the  several  States  surrendered  to  the  Federal  Go 
vernment  all  jurisdiction  over  the  subjects  of  commerce  and  navigation 
upon  the  high  seas. 

"  tth,  That  slavery  being  an  abridgment  of  the  natural  rights  of  man, 
can  exist  only  by  force  of  positive  municipal  law,  and  is  necessarily  con 
fined  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  power  creating  it. 

"  5th,  That  when  a  ship  belonging  to  the  citizens  of  any  State  of  this 
Union,  leaves  the  waters  and  territory  of  such  State,  and  enters  upon 
the  '  high  seas/  the  persons  on  board  cease  to  be  subject  to  the  laws  of 
such  State,  and  thenceforth  are  governed  in  their  relations  to  each  other 
by,  and  are  amenable  to,  the  laws  of  the  United  States. 

"  6th,  That  when  the  brig  '  Creole/  on  her  late  passage  for  New  Or 
leans,  left  the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia,  the  slave  laws  of  that  State  ceased 
to  have  jurisdiction  over  the  persons  on  board,  and  they  became  amen 
able  only  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States. 

"  *lth,  That  the  persons  on  board  said  ship,  in  resuming  their  natural 
rights  to  liberty,  violated  no  law  of  the  United  States,  incurred  no  legal 
penalties  and  are  justly  liable  to  no  punishment. 

"  8th,  That  all  attempts  to  regain  possession  of,  or  to  reenslave  said 
persons  are  unauthorized  by  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  the  United  States, 
and  are  incompatible  with  our  national  honor. 

"  $th,  That  all  attempts  to  exert  our  national  influence  in  favor  of  the 
coastwise  slave  trade,  or  to  place  this  nation  in  the  attitude  of  maintain 
ing  a  commerce  in  human  beings,  are  subversive  of  the  rights  and  injurious 
to  the  feelings  and  interests  of  the  people  of  the  free  States  ;  are  unautho 
rized  by  the  Constitution,  and  prejudicial  to  our  national  character." 


THEY  ARE  PRESENTED  TO  THE  HOUSE.  181 

The  resolutions  had  been  previously  submitted  to  Mr.  Adams  for  his 
approval.  He  was  perfectly  frank  in  saying  that  he  could  not  support 
the  one  which  denied  the  right  of  the  Federal  Government  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  States,  while  he  believed  and  held  the  principle  that  ia 
case  of  insurrection  or  war,  the  Federal  Government  might  under  the 
war  power  abolish  it.  To  that  doctrine,  the  author  replied,  that  the 
resolutions  being  drawn  and  presented  in  time  of  peace,  and  having  evident 
relation  to  a  state  of  peace,  would  not  be  regarded  as  applicable  to  a  state 
of  war,  which  operated  to  suspend  the  laws  of  the  country  and  subject 
the  rights  of  the  people  to  despotic  rule,  in  order  to  save  the  nation,  and 
that  making  exceptions  as  to  a  state  of  war  might  obscure  the  doctrines 
and  weaken  the  force  of  the  several  distinct  propositions. 

To  this  Mr.  Adams  rejoined,  that  the  friends  of  slavery  in  future  years 
and  during  times  of  war,  would  quote  these  resolutions  as  denying  the 
right  of  the  Federal  power  to  interfere  with  slavery  even  amidst  domestic 
insurrection  or  foreign  invasion  ;  but  he  added,  "  I  will  cheerfully  sustain 
att  but  that  which  denies  this  right  to  the  Federal  Government." 

Mr.  Adams  was  a  very  cautious  man,  and  the  author  could  not  at  that 
time  see  the  necessity  of  making  the  exception  to  which  his  attention  was 
called,  yet  he  was  not  unmindful  of  the  almost  universal  error  which 
appeared  to  control  our  statesmen  of  that  day,  to  wit,  that  human  enact 
ments  professing  to  establish  or  to  sustain  slavery  had  some  sort  of  unde 
fined  and  indefinable  moral  force,  beyond  the  mere  exemption  of  the  slave 
holder  or  slavedealer  from  temporal  punishment. 

Fully  aware  that  the  resolutions  were  in  direct  conflict  with  those  pre 
sented  by  Mr.  Calhoun  in  the  case  of  the  "  Enterprise/7  and  of  the  doc 
trine  avowed  by  the  Executive  in  the  cases  of  the  "  Comet"  and  "  En 
comium,"  as  well  as  that  now  asserted  by  Mr.  Webster,  the  writer  en 
deavored  to  couch  them  in  language  as  explicit  as  he  could  command. 

On  the  21st  March  the  State  of  Ohio  was  called  on,  under  the  ,1842 
rules  of  the  House,  for  resolutions.  Having  obtained  the  floor, 
the  writer  stated  that  he  had  prepared  a  series  of  resolutions  in  relation 
to  a  subject  which  had  called  forth  some  interest  in  the  other  end  of  the 
Capitol,  and  in  the  country  ;  that  he  desired  at  that  time  to  lay  them 
before  the  House  for  consideration,  and  would  call  them  up  for  action 
upon  the  next  day  which  should  be  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  reso 
lutions.  Having  made  these  remarks,  he  sent  them  to  the  Clerk's  desk, 
in  order  that  they  should  be  read  for  information,  and  with  the  full  ex 
pectation  that  they  would  be  published  in  the  newspapers  and  considered 
carefully  by  members  in  order  to  act  upon  them  understandingly  on  the 
following  week. 


182  YAKIOTJS    OPINIONS    EXPRESSED. 

The  reading  of  the  resolutions  attracted  general  attention,  and  after 
the  Clerk  had  read  them  through,  some  members  called  for  another 
reading  ;  and  now  the  most  profound  attention  was  directed  to  the  read 
ing,  and  at  the  close  there  was  some  excitement  apparent  among  slave 
holders  and  northern  members  of  the  democratic  party.  General  Ward, 
of  New  York,  inquired  of  the  Speaker  whether  it  was  in  order  to 
demand  the  previous  question  so  as  to  bring  the  House  to  an  immediate 
vote  ? 

The  Speaker  replied  in  the  affirmative. 

Mr.  Everett,  of  Yermont,  moved  to  lay  them  on  the  table,  saying 
they  were  too  important  to  be  adopted  or  rejected  without  considera 
tion.  Mr.  Everett's  motion  was  rejected  by  125  to  52. 

Mr.  Holmes,  of  South  Carolina,  under  great  excitement,  remarked, 
"  there  are  certain  topics  like  certain  places,  of  which  it  might  be  said — 

"  '  Fools  rush  in,  where  angels  fear  to  tread.'  " 

The  vote  on  seconding  the  demand  for  the  previous  question  was 
taken,  and  stood  122  to  61. 

Mr.  Everett,  a  man  of  experience  and  of  influence  in  the  whig  party, 
now  rose  and  asked  to  be  excused  from  voting,  saying  the  subject  was 
1842  ]  yerv  imP°rtant,  and  would  probably  come  before  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Affairs,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  he  desired  to 
express  no  opinion  until  he  should  have  time  to  examine  the  question  ; 
and  he  wished  on  that  occasion  to  express*  his  "  utter  abhorrence  of  the 
fire-brand  course  of  tto  gentleman  from  Ohio." 

Mr.  Fessenden,  a  Whig  of  Maine,  thought  the  resolutions  were  too 
important  to  be  voted  upon  without  greater  deliberation. 

Mr.  Floyd,  of  New  York,  a  Democrat,  said,  "  here  were  eight  or  ten 
resolutions  settling  important  questions  between  Federal  and  State 
governments,  which  the  members  had  only  heard  read,  but  had  not  seen." 
He  thought  it  important  that  every  member  should  deliberately  examine 
them  before  voting  upon  them. 

Mr.  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts,  went  to  the  Clerk's  table  and  read 
the  resolutions  ;  then  said,  "  they  appeared  to  be  a  British  argument  on 
a  great  question  between  the  British  and  American  Governments,  and  con 
stituted  an  APPROXIMATION  TO  TREASON,  on  which  he  intended  to  vote 

NO."* 

Mr.  Adams  called  for  a  division  of  the  question,  saying  he  wished  to 

*  Mr.  Cushing  had  been  elected  as  a  Whig,  but  when  the  separation  between  that  party  and  the 
President  took  place,  he  adhered  to  the  President,  and  was  appointed  Commissioner  to  China.  lie 
was  then  regarded  as  the  exponent  of  the  President's  views. 


MR.   BOTTS'S   RESOLUTION   OF   CENSURE.  183 

support  some  and  to  vote  against  others,  alluding  to  those  which 
denied  the  right  of  the  Federal  Government  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
States. 

After  these  expressions,  Mr.  Fillmore,  of  !New  York,  inquired  of  the 
Speaker,  if  it  were  m  order  to  ask  the  author  of  the  resolutions  to  with 
draw  them  ?  The  author  was  unwilling  to  see  members,  acting  under 
the  excitement  of  the  moment,  commit  themselves  against  doctrines 
which  he  was  conscious  would  meet  the  approval  of  their  judgments  in 
moments  of  cool  reflection ;  and  he  withdrew  the  resolutions,  saying  he 
had  intended  only,  on  that  occasion,  to  call  attention  to  the  subject,  and 
ask  a  vote  at  some  future  day,  and  as  they  would  now  be  published,  he 
would  withdraw  them,  and  present  them  for  action  at  the  next  day  when 
the  resolutions  should  be  in  order. 

Mr.  Botts,  of  Yirginia,  now  rose,  saying,  "the  withdrawal  of  the  reso 
lutions  did  not  excuse  their  presentation  •"  he  then  offered  the  following 
preamble  and  resolution  for  adoption  : 

"  Whereas,  The  Hon.  Joshua  R.  Giddiugs,  the  member  from  the 
sixteenth  congressional  district  of  Ohio,  has  this  day  presented  to  this 
House  a  series  of  resolutions  touching  the  most  important  interest  con 
nected  with  a  large  portion  of  the  Union,  now  a  subject  of  negotiation 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  of  the  most  delicate 
nature,  the  result  of  which  may  involve  those  nations,  and  PERHAPS  THE 

CIVILIZED  WORLD  IN  WAR  !  * 

"  And  whereas,  It  is  the  duty  of  every  good  citizen,  and  particularly 
of  every  selected  agent  and  Representative  of  the  people,  to  discounte 
nance  all  efforts  to  create  excitement  and  dissatisfaction  and  division 
among  the  people  of  the  United  States,  at  such  time  and  under  such 
circumstances,  which  is  the  only  effect  to  be  accomplished  by  the  intro 
duction  of  sentiments  before  the  legislative  body  of  the  country  hostile 
to  the  grounds  assumed  by  the  high  functionary  having  in  charge  this 
important  and  delicate  trust : 

"  And  whereas,  Mutiny  and  murder  are  therein  justified  and  approved 
in  terms  shocking  to  all  sense  of  law,  order  and  humanity,  therefore 

"  Resolved,  That  this  House  holds,  the  conduct  of  the  said  member  is 
altogether  unwarranted  and  unwarrantable,  and  deserving  the  severest 
condemnation  of  the  people  of  this  country,  and  of  this  body  in 
particular." 

Objection  was  made  to  the  presentation  of  the  resolutions  by  a  mem- 

*  Mr.  Botts  was  a  man  of  wealth,  an  extensive  slaveholder,  and  was  undoubtedly  well  Informed 
as  to  the  intention  of  the  slave  power  u  to  involve  the  two  nations  in  war,"  if  England  refused 
to  pay  for  the  slaves  lost  from  on  board  our  slave  ships. 


184  PREPARATION   FOR   DEFENCE. 

ber  from  the  State  of  Virginia,  as  the  call  had  proceeded  as  far  as  the 
State  of  Ohio  :  Mr.  Botts  moved  a  suspension  of  the  rules  ;  but  less  than 
two-thirds  voting  for  his  motion,  it  failed. 

Mr.  Weller,  a  Democrat,  from  Ohio,  then  offered  them  as  his  own, 
and  called  for  the  previous  question. 

There  was  much  excitement  in  the  hall,  and  a  conversational  debate 
arose  as  to  the  propriety  of  ordering  the  previous  question,  but  Mr. 
Weller  persisted  in  demanding  it,  and  the  Speaker  decided  that  on  a 
question  of  privilege,  the  previous  question  could  not  cut  off  a  member 
from  his  defence. 

1842]          ^r*   Fillmore,   °f    New  York,    took   an   appeal    from    this 
decision,  and  the  House  overruled  the  decision  of  the  Chair  by  a 
vote  of  118  to  64,*  and  the  House  adjourned. 

Confident  that  he  would  not  only  be  permitted  to  defend  himself,  but 
probably  constrained  to  do  so  on  the  following  day,  the  author  spent 
the  entire  night  in  preparation,  and  until  near  the  hour  of  meeting, 
when  he  drove  to  the  residence  of  Mr.  Adams,  for  the  purpose  of  con 
sulting  him. 

The  aged  patriot  was  laboring  under  great  depression.  He  said  the 
House  would  not  permit  any  defence  to  be  made  :  that  the  vote  would 
be  taken  without  debate,  and  that  appearances  indicated  the  passage  of 
the  resolution  of  censure.  To  the  latter  proposition,  the  author  readily 
assented,  but  stated  that  the  result  was  less  important  than  the  mode  of 
reaching  it ;  and  that  he  had  supposed  the  reflections  of  the  night 
would  convince  members  of  the  impropriety  of  condemning  a  man  unheard. 
Mr.  Adams  answered,  "  You  are  not  as  familiar  with  the  slaveholding 
character  as  I  am.  Slaveholders  act  from  impulse,  NOT  FROM  REFLECTION  ; 
they  act  together  from  interest,  and  have  no  dread  of  the  displeasure  of 
their  constituents  when  they  act  for  slavery." 

Conscious  of  the  superior  experience  of  Mr.  Adams,  the  writer  then 
began  to  apprehend  the  passage  of  the  resolution  of  censure  without 
permitting  any  defence. 

When  the  House  had  been  called  to  order,  the  Speaker  declared  the 
first  business  before  it  was  on  seconding  the  demand  for  the  previous 
question. 

Mr.  Weller  now  proposed  to  withdraw  his  demand  for  the  previous 
question,  provided  the  author  would  at  once  proceed  in  his  defence,  with 

*  Mr.  Fillmore  had  been  regarded  at  the  time  of  his  election  an  anti-slavery  man.  He  was  ambi 
tions,  and  therefore  not  unwilling  to  enjoy  the  favor  of  both  slaveholders  and  anti-slavery  men. 
He  served  some  years  in  Congress,  and  being  elected  Vice-President  under  General  Taylor,  he 
became  President  on  the  death  of  that  gentleman,  but  in  all  his  public  stations,  he  manifested  a 
desire  to  conciliate  southern  interests  and  southern  favor. 


NO   DEFENCE  PERMITTED.  185 

the  general  understanding  that  the  previous  question  should  be  called 
when  such  defence  was  concluded. 

The  writer  refused  to  make  any  terms  for  the  purchase  of  his  constitu 
tional  rights,  and  the  vote  was  taken  on  seconding  the  demand,  which 
stood  77  in  the  affirmative  and  TO  in  the  negative. 

After  the  previous  question  was  ordered,  Mr  Weller  moved  a  suspen 
sion  of  the  rules  to  enable  the  writer  to  make  his  defence.  The  Speaker 
declared  that  as  the  House  had  ordered  the  previous  question,  it  must 
be  put  before  any  other  could  be  entertained.  Mr.  Adams  suggested 
that  while  the  previous  question  might  cut  off  all  other  members  from 
debate,  it  ought  not  to  be  applied  to  prevent  the  accused  from  defending 
himself. 

The  Speaker  reminded  Mr.  Adams  that  the  House  had  decided  that 
the  previous  question  applied  to  cases  of  privilege,  and  it  certainly  could 
not  apply  to  one  member  and  not  to  another,  as  the  privilege  of  one  was 
the  privilege  of  all. 

Members  now  appeared  unwilling  to  pass  the  resolutions  of  ,-1S42 
censure  without  permitting  a  defence  to  be  made.  A  proposi 
tion  was  made  to  hear  the  author  of  the  resolutions,  ly  common  consent, 
and  it  was  announced  that  there  was  a  unanimous  desire  to  hear  him. 
He  then  rose,  and  uttered  the  following  words  :  "  Mr.  Speaker,  I  stand 
before  the  House  in  a  peculiar  position."  At  this  point,  Mr.  Cooper, 
of  Georgia,  objected  to  this  proceeding,  and  he  resumed  his  seat. 

Several  gentlemen  now  gathered  around  Mr.  Cooper,  who  was  per 
suaded  to  withdraw  his  objection.  Hon.  Win.  B.  Calhoun,  of  Massa 
chusetts,  renewed  the  objection,  declaring  he  would  not  see  a  member  of 
the  House  speak  under  such  circumstances. 

In  the  meantime,  the  author,  while  sitting  at  his  desk,  addressed  the 
following  note  : 

"  To  the  Reporter  of  the.  '  Intelligencer: 

11  When  I  rose  so  often  during  the  confusion  of  business  in  the  House 
this  day,  and  was  so  often  called  to  order,  the  last  time  by  Hon.  Mark 
A.  Cooper,  of  Georgia,  I  had  written  out,  and  desired  to  have  stated  to 
the  House,  what  follows  : 

"  '  Mr.  Speaker,  I  stand  before  the  House  in  a  peculiar  position.  It 
is  proposed  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure  upon  me,  substantially  for  the  rea 
son  that  I  differ  in  opinion  from  a  majority  of  the  members.  The  vote 
is  about  to  be  taken  without  giving  me  an  opportunity  to  be  heard.  It 
were  idle  for  me  to  say  that  I  am  ignorant  of  the  disposition  of  a  ma 
jority  of  the  members  to  pass  the  resolution  of  censure.  I  have  been 


186  THE   VOTE   OF  MEMBEES. 

\ 

violently  assailed  in  a  personal  manner,  but  hare  had  no  opportunity  of 
being  heard  in  reply  ;  nor  do  I  now  ask  for  any  favor  at  the  hands 
of  gentlemen  ;  but  in  the  name  of  an  insulted  constituency,  in  behalf  of 
one  of  the  States  of  this  Union,  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  these  States, 
and  of  our  Federal  Constitution,  I  demand  a  hearing  in  the  ordinary 
mode  of  proceeding  ;  I  accept  no  other  privilege.  I  will  receive  no  other 
courtesy.7  n 

This  note  appeared  the  next  morning  in  the  current  proceedings  of  the 
House. 

The  yeas  and  nays  were  taken  on  the  resolution  of  censure,  and  it  was 
adopted  by  125  yeas  to  69  nays.     The  vote  by  States  was  as  follows  : 
MAINE.     Yea— Messrs.  Clifford,  Littlefield,  and  Marshall,       .     .     3 

Nay — Messrs.  Fessenden  and  Randall,       2 

Absent- — none. 
NEW  HAMPSHIRE.    Yea — Messrs.  Atherton,  Burke,  and  Redding,     3 

Nay — none.     Absent — none. 
MASSACHUSETTS.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Adams,  Borden,   Calhoun,   Gushing,  Hud 
son,  Parmenter,  and  Winthrop, 7 

Absent  or  not  voting — Messrs.  Briggs  and  Burnell,      .     .     2 
RHODE  ISLAND.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Mr.  Cranston, 1 

Absent  or  not  voting — Mr.  Tillingliast, 1 

CONNECTICUT.     Yea — none.    Absent — none. 

Nay — Messrs.    Boardman,    Brockway,    Osborn,    Smith, 

Trumbull,  and  Williams 6 

VERMONT.     Yea — none.     Absent — Mr.  Slade. 

Nay — Messrs.  Everett,  Hall,  Mattocks,  and  Young,    .     .     4 
NEW  YORK.     Yea — Messrs.  Brewster,  Clinton,  John  G.  Floyd, 
Charles  A.  Floyd,  Herrick,  McClellan,  Oliver,  Riggs, 

and  Ward, 9 

Nay.     Messrs.    Blair,    Childs,    Chittenden,    I.    C.    Clark, 
Davis,  Doig,  Ferris,  Fillmore,  Gates,  Gordon,  Granger, 

Linn,  and  Roosevelt, 13 

Not  voting — Messrs.  Barnard,  Babcock,  Bowne,  McKeon, 
Clark,    Foster,    Hunt,     Patridge,     Sandford,    Wood, 

and  Young, 11 

NEW  JERSEY.     Yea — Mr.  Stratton, 1 

Nay — Messrs.  Aycrig  and  Maxwell, 2 

Not  voting — Halstead,  Randolph,  and  York,      ....     3 


THE   VOTE  OF  MEMBERS.  187 

PENNSYLVANIA.  Yea — Messrs.  Beeson,  Bidlack,  Black,  Brown, 
Fornance,  Gerry,  C.  I.  Ingersoll,  J.  R.  Ingersoll, 
Jack,  Plummer,  Snyder,  Westbrook,  Keim,  Marchand, 

and  Newhard, 15 

Nay — Messrs.  Henry,  James  Irwin,  James,  and  Simonton,     4 
Not  voting — Messrs.    Cooper,  Lawrence,  W.  W.  Irwin, 

Ramsey,  and  Toland, 5 

DELAWARE.     Mr.  Rodny  did  not  vote, 1 

MARYLAND.  Yea — Messrs.  Mason,  Randall,  Sellers,  and  Ken 
nedy,  4 

Nay — none. 

Absent — Messrs.  Johnson  and  Williams, 2 

VIRGINIA.  Yea — Messrs.  Barton,  Botts,  Gary,  Coles,  Gilnier, 
Goggin,  Goode,  Hams,  Hays,  Hopkins,  Hunter,  Hub- 
bard,  Mallory,  Powell,  Smith,  Stienrod,  Tallifiero,  Sum 
mers,  and  Stuart,  19 

Nay — none. 

Not  voting — Mr.  Wise 1 

NORTH  CAROLINA.  Yea — Messrs.  Arrington,  Caldwell,  Daniel, 
Deberry,  Graham,  McKay,  Rayner,  Rencher,  Shepherd, 

Stanly,  and  Washington, .     .     .  H 

Nay — none. 

Absent — Mr.  Williams, 1 

SOUTH  CAROLINA.     Yea — Messrs.  William   Butler,   Sampson   H. 

Butler,  Campbell,  Holmes,  Pickens,*  Rhett,  and  Rogers,     6 
Nay — none. 

Absent — Messrs.  Caldwell  and  Sumpter    - 2 

GEORGIA.     Yea— Messrs.  Dawson,  Colquit,  Cooper,  Foster,  Hab- 

bershani,  and  Warren, 6 

Nay — none. 

Absent — Messrs.  Gamble,  Nesbit,  and  King,       ....     3 
ALABAMA.     Yea — Messrs.    Houston,   Hubbard,  Shields,   Lewis, 

and  Chapman, 5 

Nay — none. 

Absent — Mr.  Payne, 1 

MISSISSIPPI.     Yea — Messrs.  Gwinn  and  Thompson, 2 

Absent — none.     Nay — none. 

LOUISIANA.     Yea — Messrs.  Dawson,  Moore,  and  White,     ...     3 
Nay — none.     Absent — none. 

*  Mr.  Pickens  was  Governor  of  South  Carolina  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  great  rebellion  of  1861 


188  WISE  REFUSES   TO  VOTE. 

ARKANSAS.     Yea — Mr.  Cross 1 

Nay — none.     Absent — none. 

TENNESSEE.  Yea — Messrs.  Arnold,  McClellan,  I.  L.  Williams,  C. 
H.  Williams,  W.  B.  Campbell,  Thomas  J.  Campbell,  Tur- 
ney,  Carothers,  Guntry,  Waterson,  A.  V.  Brown,  Milton 

Brown,  and  Johnson, .13 

Nay — none.     Absent — none. 
KENTUCKY.     Yea — Messrs.  Boyd,  Triplett,   Owsley,  Thompson, 

Green,  Sprigg,  Andrews,  Davis,  and  Butler,    ....     9 

Nay — Messrs.  Pope  and  Underwood, 2 

Absent — Mr.  Marshall, 1 

Mr.  Speaker  White  not  voting 1 

OHIO.     Yea — Messrs.  Doane,  Medill,  Mathews,  Sweeney,  Hastings, 

Dean,  and  Weller, 7 

Nay — Messrs.  Good,  Morrow,  Morris,  Pendleton,  Ridge- 
way,  Mason,  Cowen,  Mathiot,  Stokeley,  and  Andrews,  .  10 

Absent — Mr.  Russel, 1 

Mr.  Giddings  not  voting, 1 

INDIANA.     Yea — Messrs.  Thompson,  Kennedy,  and  Lane,*     .     .     3 
Nay — Messrs.  White,  Cravens,  and  Wallace,       ....     3 

Not  voting— Mr.  Profit, 1 

MICHIGAN  .     Yea — none.     Absent — none. 

Nay — Mr.  Howard,f     ....          1 

ILLINOIS.     Yea — Messrs.  Casey,  Reynolds,  and  Stuart,       ...     3 

Nay — none.     Absent — none. 

Mr.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  declared  that  he  would  not  vote  on  such  £ 
question  ;  Mr.  Barnard,  of  New  York,  published  a  card  declaring  the 
whole  proceeding  unconstitutional,  and  that  he  would  not  lend  his  sane 
tion,  even  by  voting  against  the  resolution  of  censure. 

Mr.  Slade,  of  Vermont,  published  a  card  saying  he  was  confined  by  ill 
health  ;  but  had  he  been  present,  he  certainly  would  have  voted  against 
the  resolution  of  censure.. 

1842]  When  the  Speaker  announced  the  resolution  "carried,"  the 
author  rose,  and  taking  formal  leave  of  the  Speaker  and  officers 
of  the  House,  of  his  colleagues,  of  Mr.  Adams,  and  a  few  other  personal 
friends,  passed  out  of  the  hall.  As  he  reached  the  front  door,  he  found 
Senators  Clay  and  Crittenden,  of  Kentucky,  who  had  been  spectators 
of  the  scene  just  described.  As  Mr.  Clay  extended  to  him  his  hand  he 


*  Mr.  Lane  is  a  republican  Senator  at  the  writing  of  these  sketches  in  1862. 
t  Mr.  Howard  is  also  a  republican  Senator  in  1862. 


THE   AUTHOR   EESIGNS   HIS   SEAT.  189 

thanked  him  for  the  firmness  with  which  he  had  met  the  outrage  perpe 
trated  upon  him,  declaring  that  no  man  would  ever  doubt  his  perfect 
right  to  state  his  own  views  against  the  slave  trade,  particularly  while 
the  Executive  and  the  Senate  were  expressing  theirs  in  favor  of  it.* 

The  author  at  once  sent  his  resignation  to  the  Speaker  of  the  House, 
and  a  copy  to  the  Governor  of  Ohio,  and  left  the  city  for  his  residence. 

*  This  kindness  and  encouragement  tendered  by  Mr.  Clay  at  that  time,  will  account,  in  part,  for 
the  author's  friendship  towards  him  in  later  years. 


190  THE   AUTHOR   DENOUNCED. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    SLAVE    POWER    BAFFLED. 

1842 ,  AT  the  meeting  of  the  House,  on  the  morning  after  the  vote 
of  censure  was  given,  members  appeared  dissatisfied.  Mr.  Adams 
moved  an  amendment  of  the  journal  in  order  to  make  it  show  more  ex 
plicitly  his  own  opposition  to  the  resolution  of  censure. 

Mr.  Everett,  of  Vermont,  moved  to  print  five  thousand  extra  copies 
relating  to  the  censure,  for  distribution  among  the  people. 

Mr.  Stanly,  of  North  Carolina,  said  :  "If  the  gentleman  from  Ver 
mont  will  include  the  resolutions  presented  by  Mr.  Giddings,  I  will  vote 
for  twenty  thousand  copies." 

Mr.  Everett.    "  I  accept  the  amendment." 

Mr.  Adams.    "  Fifty  thousand  copies." 

But  Mr.  Stanly  no  longer  urged  his  proposition. 

Mr.  Weller  appeared  anxious  to  have  the  journal  so  amended  as  to 
show  that  Mr.  Giddings  had  an  opportunity  of  defending  himself  ;  but 
the  House  refused  the  proposition. 

Neither  the  slave  power  nor  the  democratic  party  had  been  willing  to 
take  issue  upon  the  propositions  presented  for  the  consideration  of  the 
House.  Even  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  leading  advocate  of  slavery,  while 
frankly  declaring  the  author  to  have  been  wrong  in  presenting  his  reso 
lutions,  was  never  known  to  deny  their  doctrines.  No  statesman,  no 
respectable  editor  of  the  democratic  party,  denied  that  the  propositions 
were  a  correct  expose  of  constitutional  doctrines  ;  but  slaveholding 
statesmen  and  democratic  editors  were  loud  in  their  denunciation  of  the 
author  for  thus  expressing  his  honest  convictions.  He  was  proclaimed 
an  "  agitator,"  a  "  demagogue  seeking  notoriety,"  an  "  abolitionist ;" 
and  the  reflecting  men  of  that  day  saw  most  clearly  that  the  masses  of 
the  democratic  party  and  a  large  portion  of  the  whig  party,  really  enter 
tained  the  opinion  that  northern  members  of  Congress  had  no  right  to 
speak  truth  in  regard  to  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  upon  the  high  seas, 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in  the  Territories  of  the  United  States. 
Indeed,  it  were  difficult  for  men  at  this  time  to  conceive  the  political 
degradation  to  which  the  popular  mind  of  the  North  had  been  subjected 
by  the  long  and  constant  surrender  of  northern  rights  and  northern 
honor,  that  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  might  be  upheld  and  encou 
raged. 


ACTION  OF  THE  PEOPLE.  191 

But  this  public  censure  of  a  member  of  Congress  for  uttering  his  sin 
cere  convictions  did  much  to  awaken  the  people  to  a  consciousness  that 
their  liberties  were  in  danger.  The  anti-slavery  press  and  a  portion  of 
the  whig  press,  published  the  whole  proceedings  with  discreet  and  import 
ant  comments  and  suggestions.* 

Public  meetings  were  held  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  free  States, 
declaring  the  right  of  members  of  Congress  to  express  their  views  in 
regard  to  slavery  and  the  slave  trade,  so  long  as  that  body  was  called 
on  to  sustain  the  institution. 

In  the  author's  district  there  was  much  indignation  manifested  ; 
large  public  meetings  were  convened.  The  doctrines  enunciated  in  his 
resolutions,  as  well  as  his  right  to  present  them,  were  carefully  and 
fully  sustained,  and  he  was  called  on  to  stand  as  a  candidate  for  reelec 
tion  without  the  formality  of  a  nomination  by  convention.  At  some  of 
these  meetings  the  primal  doctrines  of  government  were  referred  to,  and 
the  rights  of  the  people  and  of  the  States  denned  with  a  precision  that 
would  have  done  no  discredit  to  the  statesmen  of  that  day.f 

These  proceedings  and  resolutions  were  presented  to  the  consideration 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  were,  entered  upon  the  record  of 

*  The  author  would  do  injustice  were  he  to  omit  the  fact,  that  "The  New  York  Evening  Post," 
edited  by  William  C.  Bryant,  an  able  democratic  paper,  avowed  the  right  of  Mr.  Giddings  to  pre 
sent  his  resolutions,  and  the  editor  declared  that  were  he  a  resident  of  Mr.  Giddings'  district,  he 
would  use  every  honorable  effort  for  that  gentleman's  reelection. 

t  The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  at  a  large  convention  held  in  Ashtabula  County  : 

Resolved,  That  our  fathers,  at  the  expense  of  much  blood  and  treasure,  established  a  representa 
tive  form  of  government  in  which  the  voice  of  the  people  was  recognized  as  the  controlling  power. 

2<7,  That  the  right  of  representation  having  been  purchased  by  the  best  blood  of  our  ancestors, 
can  only  be  surrendered  with  the  blood  of  their  offspring. 

8d,  That  to  the  maintenance  of  our  Government  in  its  representative  form  we  solemnly  pledge 
our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honor. 

4£/i,  That  every  attempt  to  abridge  the  right  of  the  people  to  be  heard  through  their  representa 
tives  in  Congress  is  incompatible  with  our  institutions,  subversive  of  American  liberty,  and  revolu 
tionary  in  its  tendency. 

5th,  That  the  vote  of  censure  passed  upon  the  Hon.  Joshua  R.  Giddings  on  the  22d  March  last 
was  a  flagrant  violation  of  our  rights  and  the  rights  of  our  State,  subversive  of  one  of  the  most  im 
portant  features  of  our  Government,  and  should  be  regarded  as  the  commencement  of  an  import 
ant  revolution. 

Gth,  That  while  those  concerned  in  the  coastwise  slave  trade  demand  of  the  Federal  Government 
protection  in  their  vocation,  the  traffic  in  human  flesh  must  constitute  a  subject  of  legitimate  debate 
both  in  Congress  and  among  the  people. 

Itli,  That  as  brethren  of  the  same  republican  family,  we  call  upon  members  of  Congress  who  voted 
to  censure  our  Representative  to  declare  explicitly  whether  they  desire  us  to  maintain  the  coastwise 
slave  trade  while  they  deny  to  us  the  expression  of  our  own  views  on  the  subject? 

8th,  That  the  question  now  proposed  to  the  American  people  is  one  that  rises  above  all  party 
considerations,  involving  the  most  vital  principles  of  the  Government,  imperiously  demanding  the 
united  efforts  of  all  parties  in  support  of  the  Constitution  and  the  rights  of  the  people. 

Qth,  That  these  proceedings  be  signed  by  the  president  and  vice-president,  and  certified  by  the 
secretaries,  and  transmitted  to  the  Hon.  Patrick  G.  Good,  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  Con 
gress,  with  a  request  that  he  lay  them  before  that  body. 


192  THE   AUTHOR   KEELECTED. 

debates  in  that  body.  Some  of  these  attracted  attention,  and  were  said 
to  rank  among  the  ablest  state  papers  of  the  twenty-seventh  Congress. 

The  author  was  reflected  by  an  overwhelming  vote,  and  instructed  by 
the  people  to  resume  his  seat,  to  reassert  his  doctrines,  and  to  maintain 
them. 

At  the  expiration  of  five  weeks  from  the  time  of  censure,  the  author 
resumed  his  seat  in  Congress,  clothed  with  instructions  from  the  people 
of  his  district  to  re-present  his  resolutions  and  maintain  to  the  extent  of 
his  powers  the  doctrines  which  they  asserted.  His  return  was  hailed 
with  emotions  of  gratification  by  his  venerable  friend  Mr.  Adams,  who 
declared  his  entire  confidence  in  the  intelligence  and  disposition  of  the 
people  to  reform  the  Government,  if  properly  appealed  to  by  public  men. 
Messrs.  Slade  and  Gates  were  greatly  strengthened  in  their  hopes  of  suc 
cess,  and  those  members  who  had  voted  against  the  censure  were  cheered 
and  confirmed  in  their  convictions  respecting  the  freedom  of  debate. 

The  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  Senate,  to  whom  the  mes 
sage  of  the  President  on  the  subject  of  the  "  Creole,"  and  the  letter  of 
the  Secretary  of  State  to  our  minister  at  London,  were  committed, 
appeared  unwilling  to  agitate  the  subject  farther  and  made  no  report, 
retaining  those  important  state  papers  in  unbroken  silence.  Mr.  Cal- 
houn  ceased  to  call  the  attention  of  the  country  to  these  claims  for 
slaves  :  indeed,  so  far  as  the  author  could  learn,  Mr.  Calhoun  never  sub 
sequently  mentioned  the  subject  even  in  private  conversation.  The 
Senate  forbore  all  further  discussion  in  regard  to  slaves  freed  under 
British  laws,  and  neither  Mr.  Webster,  the  Secretary  of  State,  nor  Pre 
sident  Tyler,  nor  his  successor,  Mr.  Polk,  were  known  to  have  taken  fur 
ther  action  on  the  subject :  indeed,  it  was  often  asserted  in  the  House 
that  the  Executive  had  been  silenced  by  the  voice  of  the  people,  and 
southern  members  were  taunted  with  receding  from  their  arrogant  assump 
tions  ;  to  which  they  only  replied,  that  the  claims  were  not  abandoned, 
though  not  then  pressed  upon  the  British  Government. 

But  the  most  remarkable  effect  of  this  popular  feeling  was  manifested 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  by  the  members  who  voted  for  the 
resolution  of  censure.  They  well  understood  the  instructions  of  the 
author,  to  again  present  the  resolutions,  which  had  now  been  published 
throughout  the  free  States,  and  to  maintain  the  doctrines  which  they 
asserted.  If  thus  presented,  the  House  must  have  adopted  or  rejected 
them.  But  they  could  only  be  presented  when  the  States  were  called 
on  for  resolutions,  which  by  the  rules  of  the  House  was  on  each  alter 
nate  Monday.  Yet  a  large  majority  had  voted  for  the  censure,  and  were 
at  all  times  able  to  control  the  business  of  the  House  ;  and  as  often  as 


THE   AUTHOR  VINDICATES   HIMSELF.  193 

resolution  day  came  round,  a  motion  was  made  and  carried  to  proceed 
to  other  business,  thereby  defeating  the  author's  intention  to  present  his 
resolutions  for  consideration.  During  the  remainder  of  that  session  and 
the  whole  of  the  last  session  of  the  twenty-seventh  Congress,  the  slave 
power  and  the  democratic  party  exhibited  a  moral  cowardice  entirely  un 
worthy  of  statesmen. 

Finding  the  majority  thus  to  have  receded  from  the  position  they  had 
assumed  when  censuring  the  author,  he  seized  upon  the  first  opportunity, 
to  vindicate  in  a  public  speech,  the  doctrines  avowed  in  the  resolutions 
which  the  party  would  not  permit  him  to  present  to  the  House.  The 
speech  was  listened  to  with  respectful  attention,  and  although  he  spoke 
with  severity  of  language  respecting  the  slave  trade  and  of  those  who  in 
official  stations  encouraged  that  commerce  in  men  and  women,  yet  he 
was  not  called  to  order.  Indeed,  without  interruption  he  reasserted  and 
vindicated  the  doctrines  for  which  he  had  been  censured  sixty  days  pre 
viously.  From  that  day  the  freedom  of  debate  was  substantially  regained, 
although  the  twenty-first  or  gag-rule  continued  to  hold  a  place  in  the 
manual  for  two  years  after  this  incident  occurred.* 

These  extraordinary  proceedings  attracted  attention  in  England.  The 
English  press  republished  the  proceedings  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  The  British  Ministry  had,  however,  refused  indemnity  to  the  slave- 
dealers  before  the  news  of  the  author's  expulsion  reached  that  country. 
In  the  meantime  so  many  questions  of  difficulty  had  arisen  between  the 
British  Government  and  ours,  that  Lord  Ashburton  was  appointed  envoy 
and  minister  plenipotentiary  to  our  Government  for  the  purpose  of  set 
tling  all  matters  existing  between  the  two  nations,  except  those  arising 
from  the  release  of  slaves  landed  on  British  islands,  including  the  "  Cre 
ole,"  on  that  he  was  authorized  to  hold  no  correspondence. 

This  was  the  first  instance  in  the  history  of  our  Government,  on  which 
the  popular  voice  was  definitely  and  distinctly  uttered  in  such  direct  con 
demnation  of  the  acts  of  either  branch  of  our  national  Legislature  ;  and 
few  instances  have  occurred  in  which  the  voice  of  the  people  has  been 
proclaimed  with  greater  potency. 

*  Mr.  Benton,  in  his  "  Thirty  Tears,"  appropriates  an  entire  chapter  to  the  caae  of  the  "  Creole," 
Jn  which  he  evidently  intended  to  justify  himself  and  the  Senators  who  voted  and  acted  with 
him  on  that  subject ;  but  he  makes  no  allusion  to  proceedings  in  the  House,  or  to  any  of  the  inci 
dents  attending  its  agitation  in  that  body.  It  is,  however,  still  more  remarkable,  that  in  his 
"  Abridgment  of  Congressional  Debates,"  which  purports  to  give  an  abstract  of  all  that  was  said 
and  done  in  that  body,  he  does  not  allude  to  the  resolutions  presented  by  the  author,  nor  to  the  vote 
of  censure,  nor  to  any  circumstance  attending  the  author's  resignation,  and  return  to  Congress. 
But  these  facts  show  the  efforts  made  to  pervert  the  truth  of  history,  in  order  that  our  records  might 
not  bear  testimony  to  the  despotism  and  depravity  of  those  who,  for  half  a  century,  upheld  and 
encouraged  crimes  of  the  most  revolting  character. 

13 


194:  ATTEMPTS   TO   EEMOVE   ME.    ADAMS. 

The  very  general  effort  of  the  pro-slavery  press  and  pditicians  to 
misrepresent  the  history  of  the  "  Creole, "  and  to  suppress  so  far  as  pos 
sible  all  knowledge  of  the  real  questions  involved,  constitute  the  author's 
vindication  for  speaking  with  perfect  freedom  of  scenes  in  which  he  was 
so  prominent  an  actor. 

The  democratic  party  had  looked  to  the  visit  of  Lord  Ashburton  with 
the  hope  and  expectation  that  the  Executive  would  induce  the  British 
Government  to  surrender  the  right  of  visitation,  which  for  many  years 
had  been  a  subject  of  diplomatic  correspondence.  By  "the  right  of 
visitation,"  British  statesmen  understood  the  right  of  every  British  ship 
of  war,  when  cruising  for  slavedealers,  to  visit  suspected  ships  so  far  as 
was  necessary  to  determine  whether  they  were  "  pirates  "  or  ships  "  en 
gaged  in  lawful  commerce."  This  right  had  been  denied  by  our  slave- 
holding  administrations,  and  as  such  visitation  rendered  the  African  slave 
trade  more  dangerous,  and  thereby  enhanced  the  price  of  slaves,  our  pro- 
slavery  statesmen  were  anxious  to  exempt  all  ships  sailing  under  Ameri 
can  colors  from  such  interruption. 

But  this  expectation  failed.  The  British  minister  made  no  concession  ; 
on  the  contrary,  by  the  treaty  formed  between  the  two  governments  in 
1842,  the  United  States  agreed  to  constantly  maintain  a  naval  force 
upon  the  African  coast,  of  at  least  eighty  guns,  for  the  more  effectual 
suppression  of  the  slave  trade. 

But  the  arrogant  conduct  of  southern  statesmen  was  well  illustrated 
by  certain  members  who  had  been  appointed  to  serve  on  the  Committee 
of  "  Foreign  Affairs."  Having  failed  to  induce  the  House  to  remove  Mr. 
Adams  from  the  position  of  chairman,  Messrs.  Gilmer  and  Hunter,  of 
Yirginia  ;  Rhett,  of  South  Carolina ;  Johnson,  of  Maryland,  and  Proffit, 
of  Indiana,  united  in  a  written  application,  addressed  to  the  House  of 
Representatives,  asking  to  be  excused  from  serving  on  said  committee, 
as  they  were  unwilling  to  act  with  Mr.  Adams  as  chairman,  who,  they 
said,  had  "avowed  opinions,  and  persevered  in  a  system  of  conduct,  which 
in  their  opinion,  showed  him  an  unsafe  depository  of  pullic  trust."*  The 
House  by  a  vote  readily  excused  them  from  further  service  on  said  com 
mittee,  and  the  Speaker  appointed  Messrs.  White,  of  Louisiana  ;  A.  H. 
Shepherd,  of  North  Carolina  ;  Isaac  E.  Holmes,  of  South  Carolina  ; 
R.  Chapman,  of  Alabama,  and  Mark  A.  Cooper,  of  Georgia,  to  act  as 
members  of  said  committee  in  the  place  of  the  five  members  who  had 

»  Of  these  gentlemen,  Mr.  Hunter  Is,  at  the  time  of  writing  this  note,  an  agent  of  the  rebels,  sent 
to  England  to  obtain  aid  for  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  Mr.  Rhett  is  a  member  of  the  rebel 
•congress ;  while  the  others  have  died  without  giving  to  the  world  any  extraordinary  evidence  of 
their  own  patriotism. 


COLOEED  MEN  HOLD  THE  EIGHT  OF  SUFFBAGE.      195 

been  excused.  Of  these,  Messrs.  Cooper,  Holmes,  and  Chapman,  also 
asked  to  be  excused  for  the  reasons  set  forth  by  their  predecessors.* 
These  gentlemen  were  also  excused  by  vote  of  the  House.  They  all  ap 
peared  to  entertain  no  doubts  that  their  efforts  to  affect  the  reputation 
of  Mr.  Adams,  would  exert  an  extensive  influence  upon  the  country. 
But  the  aged  hero  appeared  entirely  unconscious  of  danger  on  that  point, 
nor  did  his  friends  exhibit  any  particular  alarm  in  regard  to  it. 

A  bill  to  amend  the  charter  of  the  City  of  Alexandria  came  up  for 
consideration,  when  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  moved  an  amendment, 
granting  the  right  of  suffrage  to  all  "free  white  male  citizens." 

Mr.  Adams  moved  to  strike  out  the  word  "  white,"  so  as  to  extend 
the  right  to  all  "free  citizens"  without  respect  to  color.  In  support  of 
this  motion,  he  urged  that  the  protection  of  life,  of  liberty,  and  property 
was  as  dear  and  as  necessary  to  the  colored  man  as  to  the  white  man. 
That  the  colored  man  contributed  of  his  substance  to  the  support  of 
the  Government  in  all  cases  the  same  as  white  men,  and  frequently  is 
taxed  to  educate  the  children  of  white  men,  in  schools  where  they  are 
not  permitted  to  send  their  own  ;  that  the  rights  of  life  and  liberty  are 
not  involved  in  the  right  of  suffrage,  which  is  strictly  a  conventional, 
and  not  a  natural  right ;  yet  no  just  reason  can  be  assigned  why  the 
right  to  vote  should  depend  upon  the  complexion. 

Slaveholders,  were  enraged  at  this  proposition,  and  still  more  at  the 
reason  and  logic  with  which  it  was  enforced,  yet  no  man  presumed  to 
attempt  any  answer,  but  put  an  end  to  the  discussion  by  laying  the  sub 
ject  on  the  table. 

The  second  session  of  the  twenty-seventh  Congress  was  characterized 
by  still  greater  efforts  in  favor  of  despotism  on  the  part  of  the  southern 
statesmen,  and  by  corresponding  exertions  on  the  part  of  the  advocates 
of  liberty  to  defeat  those  designs  of  the  slave  power  ;  but  reflecting  men 
saw  clearly  that  the  slaveholding  influence  had  passed  its  culminating 
point.  The  institution  no  longer  exerted  undisputed  sway.  The  regain 
ing  the  right  of  petition  and  freedom  of  debate  constituted  the  first  step 
in  the  important  reformation  which  may  be  said  to  have  been  fairly  in 
augurated  during  the  year  1842.  The  author  was  stigmatized  as  an 
"  agitator,"  a  "  fanatic,"  an  "  abolitionist,"  and  "  exerting  no  influence 
in  Congress."  No  man,  no  editor  assailed  the  doctrines  laid  down  iu 
the  resolutions  which  brought  upon  him  such  a  deluge  of  slaveholding 
wrath. 

*  Those  gentlemen  who  felt  it  wrong  to  detract  from  their  own  dignity  by  serving  on  committee 
with  Mr.  Adams,  were  permitted  to  retire  from  the  public  gaze,  and  the  author  cannot  now  say 
whether  they  are  living  or  dead. 


196  ANTI-SLAVERY  PUBLICATIONS.  $ 

It  was,  therefore,  necessary  to  make  his  real  views  known,  in  order  to 
maintain  the  position  which  he  had  assumed.  Mr.  Adams  better  under 
stood  the  difficulty,  and  had  been  unwilling  to  join  in  any  platform  of 
principles,  saying  he  would  not  live  to  vindicate  them  ;  but  at  the  same 
time  appeared  quite  willing  that  the  author  should  avow  his  doctrines 
and  policy,  believing,  as  he  said,  that  the  author  would  live  to  maintain 
them. 

During  the  recess  of  Congress  the  author  wrote  for  publication  a 
series  of  articles  signed  "  Pacifieus."  They  were  first  published  in  the 
"  Western  Reserve  Chronicle,"  a  paper  printed  at  Warren,  Ohio.  The 
object  of  these  essays  was  to  draw  the  constitutional  line  of  demarkation 
between  the  Federal  Government  and  the  institution  of  slavery.  They 
fully  admitted  the  privilege  of  the  southern  States  to  maintain  the  insti 
tution  ;  that  although  it  was  wrong,  yet  neither  the  free  States  nor  the 
Federal  Government  possessed  constitutional  authority  to  interfere  with 
it.  But  they  asserted  that  the  free  States  held  the  same  right  to  be 
entirely  free  and  exempt  from  its  disgrace  and  expense.  That  as  the 
slave  States  held  the  privilege  to  enjoy  slavery,  the  free  States  held  the 
same  privilege  to  enjoy  freedom.  Therefore  the  Federal  Government 
could  no  more  abolish  slavery  in  our  southern  States  than  it  could  abolish 
freedom  in  the  free  States  ;  and  as  it  was  the  equal  agent  of  both  free 
and  slave  States,  it  could  not  interfere  to  uphold  or  put  down  slavery  in 
the  South  or  liberty  in  the  North. 

That  in  regard  to  the  Territories,  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  the 
high  seas,  no  State  authority  or  State  laws  could  be  recognized.  There 
Congress  held  supreme  jurisdiction  and  was  bound  to  carry  out  the 
doctrines  avowed  by  the  fathers  in  1716,  that  human  governments  are 
instituted  to  secure  human  rights. 

In  these  articles  the  writer  carefully  touched  upon  the  natural  rights 
which  the  Creator  had  bestowed  upon  mankind.  He  referred  to  the  case 
of.  a  fugitive  slave,  asserting  his  right  at  all  times  to  maintain  his  liberty, 
even  though  in  doing  so  it  becomes  necessary  to  slay  his  master  and  all 
others  who  attempt  to  hold  him  in  bondage. 

1842  ]  These  articles  attracted  attention,  and  were  extensively  repub- 
lished  in  newspapers  and  in  pamphlet  form.  They  were  com 
mended  by  editors,  politicians,  and  statesmen.  But  anti-slavery  men 
found  great  difficulty  from  their  inability  to  form  an  issue  with  the  sup 
porters  of  slavery.  In  Congress  and  out  of  it  members  of  the  demo 
cratic  party  carefully  avoided  every  issue  which  the  lovers  of  liberty 
tendered  them.  Pro-slavery  statesmen  and  politicians  were  loud  in  tLeir 
denunciations  ;  but  careful  to  lay  down  no  rule,  doctrine,  or  principle, 


197 

on  which  the  advocates  of  human  rights  could  take  issue.  Nor  would 
the  advocates  of  slavery  deny  any  specific  doctrine,  principle,  or  primal 
truth  which  the  lovers  of  liberty  maintained. 

But  the  policy  of  the  slaveholding  portion  of  the  Union  was  indis- 
cretely  expressed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Mr.  Upshur,  in  his 
annual  report  transmitted  to  Congress  by  the  President  at  the  opening 
of  the  last  session  of  the  twenty-seventh  Congress.  Mr.  Upshur  was 
a  native  of  Virginia,  educated  in  that  State,  and  reared  in  the  belief  that 
the  Old  Dominion  was  entitled  to  furnish  the  principal  officers  of  Govern 
ment,  and  to  shape  the  politics  of  the  nation.  The  failure  of  Mr.  Cal- 
houn  in  his  efforts  to-  commit  the  nation  to  support  the  coastwise  slave 
trade,  seemed  never  to  have  been  heard  of  by  Mr.  Upshur,  or  if  under 
stood,  he  must  have  disregarded  the  example  which  that  case  afforded. 
He  now  recommended  an  increase  of  the  navy  sufficient  to  prevent  an 
enemy  from  landing  upon  our  shores  ;  and  as  an  argument,  he  insisted 
that  the  "  peculiar  population  "  of  the  South  would  render  it  dangerous 
to  permit  our  enemies  to  make  a  lodgment  within  our  slave  States. 

This  proposition  to  tax  the  nation  for  the  protection  of  slavery,  how 
ever  indiscreet,  constituted  evidence  of  an  intention  to  make  the  people 
of  the  free  States  bear  the  burdens  of  the  institution,  and  northern 
advocates  of  freedom  held  up  that  policy  to  the  condemnation  of  the 
people,  insisting  that  no  appropriation  should  be  made  from  the  national 
funds  for  that  purpose,  though  the  institution  were  to  be  swept  from  the 
earth .  That  we  would  protect  the  South  against  invasion  by  calling 
their  slaves  into  service,  as  General  Jackson  had  done  in  1814,  or  we 
would  set  the  slaves  free  as  he  had  done  :  But  there  was  no  southern 
or  northern  Senator  or  Representative  that  would  stand  forth  in  defence 
of  the  Secretary's  policy. 

On  the  second  day  of  the  session,  Mr.  Adams  introduced  a  resolution 
repealing  the  twenty-first  rule  of  the  House,  and  called  for  the  previous 
question  ;  there  was  a  second  to  the  demand,  but  the  House  refused  to 
order  the  main  question,  and  it  was  thus  postponed  from  day  to  day  for 
some  time,  when  it  was  laid  on  the  table  by  a  bare  majority  ;  members 
appeared  unwilling  to  repeal  it  by  direct  vote,  although  it  had  morally 
ceased  to  operate. 

Another  item  of  some  political  significance  occurred  at  the  opening 
of  this  last  session  of  the  twenty-seventh  Congress.  The  author  had 
been  appointed  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Claims  at  the  first 
session,  which  commenced  in  December,  1841,  and  having  served  the 
whole  of  the  first  session  and  part  of  the  second,  resigned  his  seat  under 
the  vote  of  censure,  in  March,  1842,  and  another  chairman  had  been 


198  ATTEMPT   TO    REMOVE   THE   AUTHOK. 

appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy,  who,  of  course,  held  the  place  up  to  the 
close  of  that  session.  Southern  members  now  insisted  that  the  Speaker, 
being  a  warm  friend  of  Mr.  Clay,  would  not  dare  to  disregard  southern 
feelings  so  much  as  to  reappoint  the  author.  The  writer  had  forbidden 
his  friends  to  make  any  effort  for  his  reappointment  ;  but  the  Speaker 
seemed  to  have  no  hesitancy.  Indeed,  he  said  publicly  that  the  vote  of 
censure  was  an  outrage  to  which  he  had  always  been  opposed,  and  for 
which  he  desired  to  express  his  entire  disregard  by  reappointing  Mr. 
Giddings. 

The  committee  was  composed  of  three  northern  Whigs,  besides  the 
writer,  to  wit :  Messrs.  Tomlinson,  of  New  York  ;  Osborn,  of  Connecti 
cut,  and  Cowen,  of  Ohio  ;  while  Messrs.  Arnold,  of  Tennessee,  and  War 
ren,  of  Georgia,  were  slaveholding  Whigs  ;  and  Messrs.  Burke,  of  New 
Hampshire  ;  Medill,  of  Ohio,  and  Hubbard,  of  Virginia,  were  Democrats. 
Thus  there  was  a  Whig  majority  of  three,  and  a  pro-slavery  majority  of 
the  same  number. 

By  the  ancient  rules  of  the  House,  the  committees  held  the  right  to 
elect  their  chairman  ;  but  the  practice  had  long  been  for  the  member 
first  named  on  the  list  to  perform  the  duties  of  the  office,  and  it  had 
come  to  be  universally  regarded  as  law.  So  universal  was  this  under 
standing  that  the  majority  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  would 
not  assume  the  responsibility  of  electing  a  chairman  in  opposition  to  Mr. 
Adams,  who  had  been  appointed  by  the  Speaker  ;  but  asked  the  House 
to  remove  him,  and  resigned  their  places  when  the  House  refused.  Not 
so  with  the  Committee  on  Claims  ;  the  three  Democrats  and  two 
southern  Whigs  had  voted  for  the  public  censure  of  their  chairman,  and 
for  them  now  to  sit  in  committee  with  that  gentleman  as  presiding 
officer,  would  constitute  a  humiliation  to  which  they  were  unwilling  to 
submit.* 

Mr.  Warren,  of  Georgia,  took  care  to  inform  the  chairman  that  the 
majority  of  the  committee  had  determined  to  remove  him,  and  stated  the 
day  on  which  it  was  to  be  done,  and  advised  a  resignation.  To  this  the 
chairman  replied  that  he  had  been  appointed  by  the  Speaker  because  of 
his  industry  and  general  character.  That  in  presenting  his  resolutions 
he  had  acted  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  and  his  constit 
uents  had  effectually  reversed  the  judgment  of  the  House  ;  that  such, 
too,,  seemed  to  be  the  opinion  of  the  Speaker.  Under  the  circumstances 
he  felt  no  disposition  to  resign,  but  would  meet  any  action  of  the  com- 

*  Mr.  Burke,  in  a  personal  conversation,  on  the  morning  after  the  resolution  of  censure  waa 
introduced,  and  while  it  was  pending,  assured  the  author  in  the  most  solemn  manner  that  if  he  had 
the  power,  he  would  hang  him  for  introducing  resolutions  against  the  slave  trade. 


FAILURE  OF  THE  ATTEMPT.  199 

mittee  in  such  manner  as  best  he  might.  Mr.  Warren  assured  him  that 
he  wished  to  avoid  a  vote  ;  but  if  compelled  to  express  his  views,  he  would 
be  constrained  to  act  in  accordance  with  the  sentiment  of  the  South. 
JSTot  so  with  Mr.  Arnold  of  Tennessee  :  he  was  a  slaveholding  Whig, 
and  while  he  asserted  his  attachment  to  slavery,  he  declared  that  he 
would  never  unite  with  Democrats  to  perpetrate  an  outrage  upon  a  mem 
ber  merely  because  he  was  opposed  to  that  institution. 

On  the  morning  appointed  for  taking  the  vote,  Mr.  Arnold  was  not 
present.  Mr.  Medill  left  the  committee,  as  he  said,  to  persuade  Mr.  Ar 
nold  to  attend.  Neither  of  them  however  appeared  subsequently  during 
the  day.  The  committee  proceeded  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  and 
the  next  morning  democratic  members  announced  that  Mr.  Arnold  would 
not  sustain  the  proposition  to  remove  the  chairman,  who  continued  in  the 
duties  of  his  office  without  further  interruption. 


200  THE   EIGHT   OF  VISITATION. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ATTEMPTS   TO    OBTAIN   PAYMENT   FOR   SLAVES,    AND   EFFORTS   AT   PERSONAL 

INTIMIDATION. 

1843]  AFTER  the  "Treaty  of  Washington"  had  been  concluded  and 
ratified,  there  was  much  discontent  manifested  among  southern 
men  at  its  silence  in  regard  to  the  right  of  visitation.  Sir  Robert  Peel, 
in  the  British  parliament,  declared  that  his  government  had  in  no  respect 
modified  its  claim  to  exercise  the  right  of  visiting  suspected  ships,  so  far  as 
to  ascertain  whether  they  were  employed  in  lawful  commerce  or  engaged 
in  the  slave  trade  ;  while  it  had  long  been  claimed  on  the  part  of  our 
Government  that  no  cruiser  had  the  right  to  stop  any  ship  sailing  under 
American  colors,  to  ascertain  whether  she  were  engaged  in  the  slave  trade 
or  not ;  and  so  far  was  this  opposition  carried,  that  war  had  been  threat 
ened  by  leading  members  of  the  democratic  party,  if  England  continued 
the  practice.  It  was  on  this  evidence  that  Mr.  Adams  based  his  asser 
tion  that  it  "  was  intended  to  involve  our  nation  in  a  war  with  England 
for  the  purpose  of  reopening  the  African  slave  trade."  There  could  be 
no  other  excuse  for  the  hostility  manifested  by  southern  statesmen  against 
the  efforts  of  England  to  abolish  that  traffic.  But  in  making  the  Ash- 
burton  treaty,  this  feeling  in  favor  of  the  slave  trade  did  not  control  the 
Executive.  The  President  was  a  Virginian,  and  decidedly  in  favor  of 
fostering  the  interests  of  that  State.  She  had  long  been  in  the  practice 
of  sending  her  surplus  slave  population  to  southern  markets,  which  had 
become  profitable  ;  indeed,  Virginia  had  literally  become  a  slave  breeding 
State ;  and  all  her  interests  were  opposed  to  the  African  slave  trade, 
which  brought  the  imported  Africans  in  competition  with  Virginia  reared 
slaves.  President  Tyler  therefore  found  it  no  disagreeable  duty  to 
give  up  the  southern  doctrine  in  regard  to  the  right  of  visitation,  and 
enter  into  further  covenants  for  the  suppression  of  the  African  slave 
trade.  These  things  created  great  dissatisfaction  in  the  democratic 
party,  inasmuch  as  General  Cass  and  other  leading  members  had 
warmly  opposed  the  right  of  visitation,  declaring  it  to  be  a  revival 
of  the  former  "right  of  search,"  to  which  in  fact  it  bore  very  little  re 
semblance. 

Senator  Crafts,  of  Vermont,  presented  to  the  Senate  the  legislative 


SLAVE   TKADE   IN    DISTEICT   OF   COLUMBIA.  201 

Resolve  of  that  State  declaring  it  the  duty  of  Congress  to  abolish 
slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  ;  but  the  Senate 
raised  the  question  of  reception,  and  laid  that  question  on  the  table, 
leaving  the  resolution  in  the  hands  of  the  Senator  who  brought  it 
forward. 

By  way  of  preamble,  it  recited  "That  the  foreign  slave  trade  was 
regarded  as  piracy,  punishable  with  death  under  our  laws  :  That  a 
'  traffic  in  men '  had  long  been  carried  on  within  sight  of  the  halls  of 
Congress  and  of  the  President's  dwelling,  characterized  by  all  the  crimes 
of  the  foreign  slave  trade,  aggravated  by  its  outrages  upon  the  sensibili 
ties  of  a  Christian  community,  under  and  by  virtue  of  the  laws  of  Con 
gress.  Therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  all  laws  in  jany  way  sanctioning  or  authorizing  the 
slave  j  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  ought  to  be  repealed,  and  the 
trade  prohibited." 

Mr.  Slade,  wishing  to  present  this  resolution  to  the  House,  and  know 
ing  that  the  twenty-first  rule  prohibited  its  reception,  moved  a  suspension 
of  the  rules  in  order  to  present  it  for  action  in  that  body.  All  mem 
bers  from  the  slave  States  voted  against  the  motion  ;  those  from  the  free 
States  voted  as  follows  : 
MAINE.  Yea — Messrs.  Bronson,  Fessenden  and  Randall,  ...  3 

Nay — Messrs.  Littlefield,  Lowell,  and  Marshall,  ....     3 

Not  voting — Messrs.  Allen  and  Clifford, 2 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Burke,  Eastman,  Redding,  and  Shaw,    .     .     4 

Not  voting — Mr.  Atherton, 1 

MASSACHUSETTS.     Yea — Messrs.  Winthrop,  Parmenter,  Hudson, 

Baker,  Briggs,  Calhoun,  Borden,  Burnell,  and  Adams,  .     9 

Nay — None. 

Not  voting — Messrs.  Saltonstall  and  Gushing,     ....     2 

One  vacancy. 

RHODE  ISLAND.     Yea — Messrs.  Cranston  and  Tillinghast,    ....    2 
CONNECTICUT.     Messrs.  Trambull,  Boardman,  Osborn,  and  Smith,      4 

Not  voting — Messrs.  Brockway  and  Williams,     ....     2 
VERMONT.     Yea — Messrs.  Slade,  Everett,  and  Mattocks,     ...     3 

Not  voting — Messrs.  Hall  and  Young, 2 

NEW  YORK.     Yea — Messrs.  J.  G.  Floyd,   McKeon,   Roosevelt, 
Ferris,  Davis,  Hunt,  Barnard,  Linn,  Blair,  Tomlinson, 
.  Chittenden,  J.  C.  Clark,  S.  N.  Clark,  Patridge,  Birdsey, 
Morgan,  Maynard,  Granger,  Oliver,  Childs,  Gates,  Fill- 
more,  and  Balcock, 23 


202  VERMONT   INSULTED. 

Nay — Messrs.  C.  A.  Floyd,  Wood,  Ward,  Clinton,  Van 
Buren,    McClellan,    Herrick,   Brewster,    Gordon,  and 

Riggs, 10 

Not  voting — Messrs.  Egbert,  Yan  Rensalear,    Sandford, 

Doig,  Bowne,  Granger,  and  Young, 7 

PENNSYLVANIA.     Yea — Messrs.  James,  Ramsey,  Cooper,  Russell, 

McKennon,  Henry,  and  J.  R.  Ingersoll, t 

Nay — C.  I.  Ingersoll,  Brown,  Fornance,  Westbrook,  New- 
hard,  Keim,  Gerry,  Marchand,  Beeson,  Bidlack,  Irwin, 

Jack,  and  Plummer, 13 

Not  voting — Jeremiah  Brown,  Edwards,  Simonton,  Gus- 

tine,  Irwin,  Snyder,  Reed,  and  Russel, 8 

OHIO.     Yea — Messrs.  Pendleton,  Goode,  Morrow,  Morris,  Russel, 
Ridgeway,   Cowen,  Mathiot,  Andrews,  Giddings,  and 

Stokeley, 11 

Nay — Messrs.  Dean,  Mathews,  Weller,  Medill,  Sweeney,      5 
Not  voting — Messrs.  Hastings,  Doane,  and  Mason,  ...     3 

INDIANA.     Yea — Messrs.  White  and  Cravens, 2 

Nay — Mr.  Thompson, 1 

Not  voting — Messrs.  Proffit,  Kennedy,  Wallace,  and  Lane,     4 
ILLINOIS.     Yea — Messrs.  Casey,  Reynolds,  and  Stuart,  ....     3 

MICHIGAN.     Absent — Mr.  Howard, 1 

Such  was  the  respect  of  the  several  northern  members  for  the  right? 
and  dignity  of  a  free  State.  The  whole  vote,  including  members  from 
the  slave  States,  showed  13  yeas,  109  nays,  and  34  members  from  the 
free  States  not  voting. 

The  question  of  property  in  human  beings  was  again  brought  before 
the  House  of  Representatives,  but  in  a  more  objectionable  form  than  it 
had  been  presented  in  1828. 

When  General  Jackson  invaded  West  Florida  in  1814,  the  followers 
of  his  camp  took  with  them,  on  leaving  the  territory,  more  than  a  hun 
dred  slaves  ;  and  when  he  again  invaded  it  in  1818,  he  took  from  the 
inhabitants  provisions  to  a  considerable  amount. 

By  the  ninth  article  of  our  treaty  with  Spain  in  1820,  it  was  stipu 
lated  "  that  the  Spanish  inhabitants  shall  receive  compensation  for  any 
losses  they  may  have  sustained  by  reason  of  the  operations  of  the  late 
American  army  within  that  territory." 

1848  ]         Under  this  treaty  all  claims  arising  from  the  operations  of  the 
American  army  in  Florida,  during  the  year  1818,  were  regarded 
as  valid,  and  were  adjusted. 

But  those  who  had  lost  slaves  during:  the  invasion  of  1814  now  claimed 


PROPERTY   EST   SLAVES   DENIED. 

indemnity.     Mr.  Crawford,  at  that  time  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  re 
jected  them. 

They  were  then  sent  to  Congress,  and  committed  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  of  which  Mr. 
Archer,  of  Virginia,  was  chairman,  and  were  rejected.  But  the  claim 
ants,  nothing  daunted,  again  had  them  referred,  at  the  next  Congress, 
to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  at  that  time  under  the  chairman 
ship  of  Mr.  Everett,  of  Massachusetts.  This  gentleman  had  voted  to 
recognize  property  in  human  beings,  and  was  an  advocate  of  that  dogma  ; 
and  although  a  representative  from  Massachusetts,  he  reported  in  favor 
of  paying  for  these  slaves,  although  they  had  been  so  often  rejected. 
But  the  House  did  not  sanction  his  report. 

Mr.  Woodbury  coming  into  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  having  always  subserved  the  interests  of  the  institution,  the  claim 
ants  now  applied  to  his  department  for  indemnity  ;  and  he,  not  doubting 
the  validity  of  the  claims,  paid  some  thousands  of  dollars  for  their  liqui 
dation,  when  he  learned  the  action  which  Mr.  Crawford  had  taken  in 
regard  to  them,  and  refused  further  payments. 

The  claimants  applied  to  Congress  again,  and  had  their  cases  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Claims,  while  the  author  wa,s  a  member  of  that  com 
mittee.  The  practice  then  was  to  make  no  report  on  claims  for  slaves, 
in  order  to  prevent  agitation. 

At  the  next  session,  they  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Terri 
tories,  of  which  the  Hon.  James  Cooper,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  chairman, 
who  reported  a  bill  for  their  payment.* 

Mortified  that  the  Committee  on  Territories  should  have  thus  reported 
in  favor  of  such  claims,  the  author  went  among  his  friends  in  the  House, 
informed  them  of  the  character  of  the  bill,  and  requested  them  to  ex 
amine  the  case  and  aid  in  defeating  it  if  they  should  find  it  of  the  charac 
ter  represented.  He  was  particularly  urgent  with  some  men  of  talents, 
who  were  in  the  habit  of  speaking  in  the  House  of  Representatives  j  but 
could  find  no  one  willing  to  argue  against  the  bill  save  Mr.  Adams. 
Messrs.  Slade  and  Gates  would  willingly  have  complied  with  the  request, 
but  Mr.  Slade  was  in  poor  health,  and  Mr.  Gates  was  unwilling  to  as 
sume  the  character  of  a  speaking  member,  as  he  had  never  practised 
addressing  the  House.  In  short,  it  was  found  that  Mr.  Adams  and  the 
author  were  to  meet  the  slaveholding  influence  upon  a  question  which, 


*  The  author  was  a»,  that  time  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Claims,  and  informed  Mr.  Cooper 
that  these  cases  were  suspicious,  and  had  been  taken  from  the  Committee  on  Claims  for  the  reason 
that  that  Committee  had  refused  to  recognize  them  as  valid. 


204  DECISION   SAME   AS   IN    1828. 

in  1828,  had  been  debated  with  more  determination  than  had  been  mani 
fested  on  any  other  question. 

When  the  bill  came  up  for  debate,  the  writer  assailed  it  with  such 
arguments  as  he  could  command.  The  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Territories,  Mr.  Cooper,  on  listening  to  his  arguments,  refused  to  sustain 
the  bill  which  he  had  himself  reported  ;  but  a  number  of  slaveholders 
spoke  in  its  favor,  occupying  the  remainder  of  the  day,  and  the  debate 
was  postponed  for  two  weeks. 

Mr.  Adams  became  deeply  interested,  and  sending  to  the  Register  of 
the  Treasury,  obtained  a  list  of  some  ninety  negroes,  male  and  female, 
for  whose  bodies  the  people  of  the  free  States  were  now  called  on  to 

pay. 

When  the  bill  came  again  before  the  House,  the  veteran  statesman 
spoke  with  great  earnestness  and  in  his  own  peculiar  manner.  True, 
neither  Mr.  Adams  nor  Mr.  Giddings  could  advance  any  new  arguments 
after  the  very  full  discussion  of  1828.  The  principal  distinction  between 
the  arguments  on  that  case  and  those  now  advanced  consisted  in  the 
fact,  that  Messrs.  Adams  and  Giddings  pressed  upon  the  consideration 
of  members  the  moral  character  of  slavery,  and  the  circumstance  that 
this  claim  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  for  females  stolen  by  the  army  and 
the  followers  of  the  camp.  But  Mr.  Adams  seemed  to  carry  the  mem 
bers  with  him,  as  he  progressed  with  the  argument,  and  never  did  the 
result  of  any  question  more  distinctly  appear  upon  the  countenances  of 
members  than  on  that  occasion. 

When  Mr.  Adams  closed  there  was  a  general  call  for  the  previous 
question,  but  the  delegate  from  Florida  desired  to  reply.  He  was  lis 
tened  to  attentively,  but  made  no  impression  upon  the  House  ;  indeed, 
the  overwhelming  argument  of  Mr.  Adams  appeared  to  be  rendered  more 
irresistible  by  contrasting  it  with  the  feebleness  of  this  reply.  The  vote 
was  then  taken  on  the  bill,  when  only  thirty-six  members  voted  in  sup 
port  of  it. 

This  was  the  second  instance  in  which  the  right  of  property  in  human 
beings  was  distinctly  debated  in  the  House  of  Representatives  ;  and 
although  the  argument  was  mainly  confined  to  that  subject,  yet  the  con 
struction  of  the  treaty  constituted  a  legitimate  question,  and  undoubtedly 
was  regarded  by  some  members  as  a  good  reason  for  voting  against  the 
bill.  Nor  is  it  to  be  denied  that  the  moral  circumstances  alluded  to  had 
weight  with  some  members.* 

*  Mr.  Pickens,  of  South  Carolina,  came  across  the  hall  after  this  vote  was  taken,  and,  addressing 
his  colleague,  Mr.  Campbell,  who  sat  beside  the  author,  said— "Why  did  you  not  vote  for  that 


EXECUTIVE   SUPPORT   OF   SLAVE   TRADE. 


205 


Another  incident  occurred  near  the  close  of  the  session  which  further 
exhibited  the  willingness  of  northern  statesmen  to  involve  themselves  and 
their  constituents  in  the  crime  and  disgrace  of  sustaining  the  slave  trade. 

In  a  previous  chapter  the  attention  of  the  reader  .was  called  in  general 
terms  to  the  slave  ships  "  Comet "  and  "  Encomium,"  which  were  wrecked 
near  the  British  West  India  islands,  and  the  slaves  became  free  by  being 
carried  under  the  jurisdiction  of  British  laws.  These  were  the  first 
slaves  lost  in  that  manner  for  which  indemnity  was  demanded.  The  claim 
was  put  forth  under  the  administration  of  General  Jackson,  attended  by 
indications  that  payment  for  the  slaves  must  be  made  or  a  war  would 
result  from  the  refusal.  But  this  result  was  probably  more  strongly  im 
plied  from  the  character  of  President  Jackson  than  from  any  particular 
language  or  other  circumstance.  But  these  losses  occurred  while  slavery 
existed  on  all  the  British  West  India  islands,  and  while  that  government 
practically  admitted  the  right  of  property  in  men.  Under  these  circum 
stances  the  British  Ministry  consented  to  pay  some  $15,000  for  the 
benefit  of  slavedealers,  whose  crimes  had  been  in  some  degree  defeated 
by  "the  act  of  God"  and  the  operation  of  British  laws. 

In  obtaining  this  money  the  President  did  not  consult  Congress. 
Nor  did  he  ask  of  Congress  to  point  out  the  mode  for  its  distribution. 
He  paid  out  all  but  four  thousand  dollars,  for  which  no  claimants 
appeared.  This  sum  remained  in  President  Yan  Buren's  hands,  and 
when  he  was  about  to  retire  from  office,  he  paid  it  over  to  the  Treasurer 
of  the  United  States,  who,  without  any  authority,  gave  an  official 
receipt  for  it. 

After  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  the  claimants  called  for  the 
funds. 

The  Treasurer,  although  he  had  received  the  money  without  any 
authority,  now  refused  to  pay  it  out,  unless  Congress  would  pass  a  law 
authorizing  him  to  do  so. 

Up  to  this  point,  the  whole  proceeding  had  been  carried  on  by  the 
.Executive.  He  had  placed  our  Government  in  the  attitude  of  patron 
izing  this  "  traffic  in  slaves ;"  and  lent  our  national  influence  to  the  com 
mission  of  crimes  revolting  to  Christianity :  But  now  the  slavedealers 
applied  to  Congress  to  sustain  them  in  obtaining  the  profits  of  their 
piratical  vocation. 

Their  petition  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means, 
composed  of  Messrs.  Fillmore,  of  New  York  ;  Botts,  of  Yirginia  ;  Mason, 

bill'"  Mr.  Campbell  replied,  "Why  did  you  not  vote  for  it?"  Pickens  said,  "Because.  I  was 
ashi.ined  to  do  so."  "Such  was  my  case,"  said  Mr.  Campbell.  Yet,  while  these  advocates  of 
slavery  voted  against  the  bill,  members  from  New  Hampshire  sustained  it. 


206  EFFORTS   TO   COMPROMISE. 

of  Ohio;  Wallace,  of  Indiana  ;  Marshall,  of  Kentucky  ;  I.  R  Ingersoll, 
of  Pennsylvania;  Jones,  of  Virginia  ;  Atherton,  of  New  Hampshire  ; 
and  Pickens,  of  South  Carolina;  and,  so  far  as  we  are  informed,  they 
were  unanimously  in  favor  of  taking  this  slavetrading  transaction  into 
the  hands  of  Congress,  and  carrying  out  the  system  commenced  by  Gen 
eral  Jackson. 

,  The  majority  of  the  committee  were  Whigs,  and  would  have  probably 
looked  upon  any  other  transaction  of  that  functionary  with  suspicion. 
But  this  had  relation  to  the  slave  trade,  and  few  members  were  willing 
to  oppose  the  proposition. 

The  bill  was  reported  by  Mr.  Fillrnore,  and  merely  authorized  the 
Treasurer  to  pay  over  the  money  to  the  owners  of  the  slaves  in  propor 
tion  to  the  number  which  each  had  lost. 

Having  informed  himself  of  the  character  of  this  bill,  the  writer 
went  to  Mr.  Stanley,  of  North  Carolina,  who  had  the  matter  in  charge, 
and  in  a  friendly  manner  stated  that  the  money  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Treasurer  without  any  legal  authority  ;  and  could  be  paid  out  without 
incurring  any  responsibility;  but  as  he,  Stanley,  was  anxious  that  his 
constituents  should  get  the  money,  the  writer  would  consent  that  the  bill 
should  authorize  the  Treasurer  to  replace  it  in  the  hands  of  the  Execu 
tive,  who  would  doubtless  pay  it  over  as  the  claimants  desired,  That  this 
would  not  involye  Congress  in  the  odium  of  the  transaction,  in  which  the 
writer  desired  not  to  be  involved,  even  by  silently  permitting  the  present 
bill  to  pass  without  opposition. 

Mr.  Stanley  declared  the  proposition  honorable,  and  requested  the 
author  to  draw  up  such  a  bill  as  he  would  consent  to  have  passed.  He 
did  so  ;  Stanley  carefully  examined  it,  declared  himself  satisfied,  and  said 
when  the  bill  came  up  he  would  accept  it  as  a  substitute  for  the  original 
bill. 

This  was  done  to  the  apparent  satisfaction  of  all  concerned,  and  the 
bill,  thus  amended,  passed  the  House  of  Representatives. 

When  it  was  taken  up  in  the  Senate,  the  original  bill,  as  reported  by 
the  committee*,  was  substituted  for  the  bill  which  passed  the  House, 
and  it  came  back  in  the  precise  form  reported  by  the  committee.  Aston 
ished  at  this  apparent  violation  of  honor  and  good  faith,  Mr.  Giddings 
at  once  went  to  Mr.  Stanley  for  explanation,  but  obtained  none  what 
ever.  Under  the  circumstances,  the  author  desired  to  express  his  oppo 
sition  to  the  bill  when  it  should  come  up  for  consideration,  so  that  no 
man  would  thereafter  charge  him  with  having  silently  consented  to  its 
passage.  To  this  Mr.  Stanley  appeared  to  yield  consent. 

When  the  bill  came  before  the  House,  Mr.  Stanley,  having  charge  of 


LEGISLATIVE   STRATEGY.  207 

it,  was  awarded  the  floor,  and  demanded  the  previous  question.  Mr. 
Giddings  publicly  requested  him  to  withdraw  the  demand.  He  refused. 
Mr.  Giddings  demanded  the  yea-s  and  nays  on  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
but  Stanley  exerted  a  commanding  influence  with  the  whig  party,  and 
the  bill,  from  its  character,  drew  to  its  support  the  slaveholders  and 
democratic  members,  and  the  yeas  and  nays  were  refused.  The  ques 
tion  of  concurring  in  the  Senate's  amendment  was  put  and  carried. 

Discovering  the  artifice  used  to  prevent  him  from  exposing  the  char 
acter  of  the  bill,  Mr.  Giddings  felt  perhaps  too  indignant,  and  being 
unwilling  to  be  overreached  in  that  way,  at  once  moved  a  reconsidera 
tion  of  the  vote,  and  thus  coming  into  legitimate  possession  of  the  floor, 
stated  the  deception  to  which  he  had  been  subjected.  The  bill,  he  said, 
was  intended  to  compensate  certain  slavedealing  constituents  of  Mr. 
Stanley  for  losses  sustained  in  their  vocation.  He  thanked  God  that 
he  held  his  seat  in  that  hall  by  no  such  votes,  and  was  under  no  obliga 
tions  to  piratical  slavedealers  ;  protested  against  the  whig  party 
taking  upon  itself  the  odium  of  voting  to  sustain  a  commerce  in  human 
flesh.*  He  next  exposed  the  character  of  the  bill;  showed  that  it  was 
intended  to  sanction  the  act  of  General  Jackson  and  lending  the  in 
fluence  of  the  nation  to  support  a  commerce  in  the  bodies  of  men  and 
women  born  and  reared  on  American  soil.  That  in  doing  this,  General 
Jackson  and  his  successor  had  acted  without  consulting  Congress. 
That  the  President  of  this  Republic  had  condescended  to  become  the 
agent  and  solicitor  of  piratical  slavedealers  ;  had  disgraced  the  nation 
and  Government  by  representing  that  it  "  fostered  a  traffic  in  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  and  other 
professing  Christia,ns :  That  he  obtained  a  large  sum  of  money 
from  England  by  falsely  representing  to  the  British  Ministry  that  this 
Government,  of  which  Congress  constituted  the  legislative  branch, 
regarded  slaves  as  property,  and  paid  for  them  as  such,  when  lost  in  the 
public  service  in  time  of  war."  He  declared  that  the  assertion  was  not 
only  untrue,  but  asserted  that  the  reverse  was  literally  true.  Our 
records  (said  he)  show  that  in  the  only  instances  where  this  question 
has  been  raised  or  debated  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  doc 
trine  asserted  by  our  minister  at  London  (Mr.  Stevenson),  has  been 
repudiated.  He  made  this  charge  of  unmitigated  falsehood  upon  that 

*  Mr.  Stanley  exerted  great  influence  with  the  whig  party,  of  which  Mr.  Giddings  was  then  a 
member.  But  in  all  his  bearing  and  conduct  Mr.  Stanley  exhibited  an  imperious  contempt  for 
the  supporters  of  liberty.  He  was  undoubtedly  sincere  in  his  opinions,  but  on  this  occasion  mani 
fested  them  in  an  offensive  manner.  Mr.  Giddings  felt  at  perfect  liberty  to  utter  his  detestation 
of  slavedealing  and  of  slavedealers.  The  result  was  that  these  gentlemen  never  exchanged  the 
ordinary  civilities  of  social  life  afterwards. 


208  CHARGE   OF   FALSEHOOD. 

minister  because  he  saw  around  him  able  statesmen  representing  the  Old 
Dominion,  of  which  our  minister  was  a  citizen,  and  knew  that  if  this 
House  had  in  any  instances  decided  that  slaves  were  property,  or  had 
paid  for  them  as  such,  these  representatives  would  find  the  record  and 
convict  him  of  misrepresentation.  He  challenged  them  to  the  contest, 
pronounced  the  doctrine  "  heathenish,"  and  its  assertion  a  libel  upon  Con 
gress  and  upon  the  people  of  the  nation.  He  would  not  be  made  a  party  to 
the  falsehood  nor  to  the  doctrine  ;  nor  would  he  permit  his  constituents 
to  be  involved  in  such  infidelity  to  the  precepts  and  doctrines  of  the 
founders  of  our  Government  ;  such  infidelity  to  the  principles  of 
justice. 

He  asserted  that  he  felt  humbled,  deeply  humiliated,  at  looking 
around  him  and  seeing  two  hundred  and  thirty  American  statesmen 
sitting  in  that  hall  gravely  legislating  in  behalf  of  piratical  slave- 
dealers,  whose  crimes  had  rendered  them  moral  outlaws,  unfit  for  hum9,n 
association,  fit  only  for  the  gallows  and  the  halter.  Yet  because  the 
Executive  and  Senate  had  engaged  in  the  support  of  this  inhuman  traffic, 
and  had  done  all  they  could  to  commit  the  Government  and  nation  to 
its  support,  and  had  failed  to  effect  that  object,  members  of  the  House 
were  asked  to  approve  these  efforts  by  the  passage  of  the  bill.  He 
would  not  be  made  the  supple  instrument  of  the  President  nor  of  design 
ing  slaveholders,  though  clothed  with  senatorial  dignity. 

He  stated  that  he  was  fully  aware  that  a  large  majority  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  were  in  favor  of  sustaining  the  doctrine  of  the 
Executive  and  of  the  Senate  :  that  they  had  by  an  unauthorized  and 
despotic  assumption  of  power  passed  a  vote  of  censure  upon  him  for 
the  expression  of  his  opinions  on  the  subject  of  the  slave  trade,  and 
proceeded  at  length  to  vindicate  the  doctrine  that  Congress  had  no  con 
stitutional  power  nor  just  right  to  involve  the  people  of  the  free  States 
in  a  war  for  the  support  of  the  slave  trade* 

No  member  attempted  to  meet  the  doctrines  put  forth.  Stanley 
was  silent.  Mr.  Fillmore,  who  reported  the  bill,  made  no  attempt  to 
vindicate  the  principles  involved.  Mr.  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts,  replied, 
endeavoring  to  show  that  the  money  being  in  the  treasury  made  Con- 

*  These  remarks  were  not  reported  in  the  "  Congressional  Globe,"  nor  in  any  other  paper.  In 
the  report  of  the  proceedings,  as  they  appeared  the  next  morning,  it  was  stated  that  Mr.  Giddings 
occupied  an  hour  on  the  subject,  but  no  allusion  was  made  even  to  the  substance  of  his  remarks. 
lie,  however,  wrote  them  out,  and  obtained  their  publication  in  the  Appendix  to  the  "  Congressional 
Globe." 

It  is  a  matter  of  curiosity  that  Colonel  Benton,  while  professing  to  give  an  accurate  abridgment 
of  all  debates  and  proceedings  in  Congress,  does  not  refer  to  this  speech  which  appears  in  the 
Appendix  of  the  "Globe;"  nor  to  Mr.  Cushing's  reply,  nor  to  any  transaction  connected  with  the 
bill  referred  to. 


THE  VOTE.  209 

gress  trustees  for  its  distribution,  and  that  body  was  bound  to  distribute 
it,  without  looking  back  to  the  circumstances  which  brought  it  to  the 
treasury.* 

After  Mr.  Gushing  concluded,  the  yeas  and  nays  were  ordered  on  the 
motion  to  lay  the  proposition  to  reconsider  on  the  table,  and  it  prevailed 
by  a  vote  of  140  to  38. 

The  vote  of  the  slave  States  was  unanimously  in  the  affirmative. 
That  of  the  free  States  was  divided  as  follows  : 
MAINE.    Yea — Messrs.  Allen,   Clifford,  Littlefield,  Lowell,  and 

Marshall,       5 

Nay — Messrs.  Bronson,  Fessenden,  and  Randall,      ...     3 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.     Yea — Messrs.  Atherton,  Burke,  and  Eastman,     3 

Not  voting — Messrs.  Redding  and  Shaw,        .....     2 

MASSACHUSETTS.     Yea — Messrs.  Gushing,  and  Parmenter,       .     .     2 

Nay — Messrs.  Winthrop,   Hudson,   Baker,   Briggs,   Cal- 

houn,  Burnell,  and  Adams, 7 

Absent — Messrs.  Saltonstall,  Hastings,  and  Borden,     .     .     3 

RHODE  ISLAND.     Yea — Mr.  Cranston, 1 

Absent— Mr.  Tillinghast,    .     : 1 

CONNECTICUT.    Yea — Messrs.  Osborn,  and  Boardman,    ....     2 
Nay — Messrs.  Smith,  Williams,  and  Brockway,  ....     3 

Absent — Mr.  Trumbull, 1 

VERMONT.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Hall,  Slade,  Young,  and  Mattocks,   ...    4 

Absent — Mr.  Everett, 1 

NEW  YORK.  Yea — Messrs.  Charles  A.  Floyd,  John  G.  Floyd, 
McKeon,  Wood,  Ferris,  Davis,  Clinton,  McClellan, 
Herrick,  Hunt,  Barnard,  Blair,  Tomlinson,  Sandford, 
Doig,  Brewster,  Bowne,  Gordon,  J.  C.  Clark,  Riggs, 
Patridge,  Foster,  Fillmore,  Oliver,  Childs,  and  Young,  26 
Nay — Messrs.  Linn,  Staley  N.  Clark,  Morgan,  Granger, 

Birdsey,  Chittenden,  Van  Rensalear, f 

Absent — Messrs.    Babcock,    Egbert,    Roosevelt,   Ward, 

Gates,  and  Van  Bureii, 6 

NEW  JERSEY.    Yea — Mr.  Aycrig, 1 

Nay— -Mr.  Halstead, 1 

Absent — Messrs.  Randolph,  Stratton,  Maxwell,  an<^  York,     4 

*  After  Mr.  Cushing's  return  home  he  published  a  letter,  charging  the*  author  with  misrepresen 
tation  in  saying  that  members  who  supported  this  bill  sustained  the  slave  trade.  The  authoi 
replied,  showing  very  definitely  the  instances  in  which  Mr.  Gushing  had  su. u .lined  that  traffic.  Mr. 
Cashing  was  defeated  at  the  next  election,  and  no  more  appeared  in  Congress. 

14 


210  BREACH   OF  PRIVILEGE. 

PENNSYLVANIA.  Yea — Messrs.  Charles  Brown,  Jeremiah  Brown, 
C.  I.  Ingersoll,  Toland,  Fornance,  Westbrook,  Newhard, 
Keim,  Gerry,  Gustine,  Bidlack,  Snyder,  Marchand,  Bee- 
son,  Plummer,  W.  W.  Irwin, 16 

Nay — Messrs.  Henry,  McKennon,  Ramsey, 3 

Not  voting — Messrs.  Sergeant,  James,  Simonton,  Cooper, 

Dimmock,  Lawrence,  Jack,  and  James  Irwin,      ...     8 
One  vacancy. 
OHIO.     Yea — Messrs.  Pendleton,  Weller,  Mason,  Doane,  Morris, 

Medill,  Mathews,  Mathiot,  Sweeney,  Hastings,  Dean,     .  11 
Nay — Messrs.   Andrews,   Cowen,    Giddings,    Ridgeway, 

Russel,  and  Stokeley, 6 

Not  voting — Messrs.  Goode,  and  Morrow, 2 

INDIANA.     Yea — Messrs.  Proffit,  and  Thompson, 2 

Nay — Mr.  Cravens,       1 

Not  voting — Messrs.  Lane,  Kennedy,  Wallace,  and  White,   4 

MICHIGAN.     Absent — Mr.  Howard, 1 

ILLINOIS.     Yea — Messrs.  Casey,  Stuart,  and  Reynolds,  ....     3 

When  the  vote  had  been  announced  by  the  Speaker,  Mr.  Giddings 
rose  to  a  question  of  privilege,  and  stated  an  occurrence  which  had  taken 
place  during  the  proceedings. 

He  said  :  While  speaking  he  had  noticed  several  persons  standing  in 
front  of  the  Clerk's  desk,  one  of  whom  was  Mr.  Dawson,  of  Louisiana. 
That  the  moment  he  closed  his  remarks  he  was  violently  pushed  by 
what  appeared  to  be  the  elbow  of  a  man  pressing  against  his  side  ;  and 
at  the  same  instant  Mr.  Dawson  passed  him  on  his  way  from  the 
outside  towards  the  Clerk's  desk.  He  approached  from  behind,  and 
was  neither  heard  nor  seen  until  this  manifestation  of  his  displeasure. 
Recognizing  him  as  he  passed,  he  spoke  in  an  undertone,  but  so 
loud  as  to  be  heard,  saying  "Daioson!"  when  that  member  turned 
around  and  seized  the  handle  of  a  bowie-knife  which  partially  pro 
truded  from  his  bosom,  and  immediately  advanced  towards  the  writer 
until  within  striking  distance  of  his  person.  Looking  him  in  the  eye 
he  said,  "  Did  you  push  me,  in  that  rude  manner  ?"  He  answered, 
"  Yes."  "  For  the  purpose  of  insulting  me  ?"  "  Yes,"  said  Dawson,  as 
lie  partially  removed  the  knife  from  the  scabbard.  Mr.  Giddings  rejoined, 
"  No  gentleman  will  wantonly  insult  another.  I  have  no  more  to  say  to 
you,  but  turn  you  over  to  public  contempt  as  incapable  of  insulting  an 
honorable  man."  ' 

By  this  time  Mr.  More,  of  Louisiana,  and  other  members  seized 
Dawson  and  took  him  from  the  hall.  The  writer  stated  to  the  House 


THE  HOUSE   FOKBEAES   ACTION.  211 

that  he  felt  it  due  to  the  members  of  the  body  to  lay  these  facts  before 
them.  That  he  should  leave  the  matter  at  that  point  ;  wishing  it 
distinctly  understood,  that  he  asked  no  protection  from  the  House,  but 
left  that  body  to  protect  its  own  dignity. 

Mr.  A.  H.  H.  Stuart,  from  Virginia,  stated  that  he  had  noticed  the 
appearance  of  Dawson  while  standing  in  front  of  the  Clerk's  desk 
apparently  engaged  in  conversation  with  other  members.  That  he  kept 
his  eye  upon  him  as  he  left  that  place  walking  down  the  front  aisle,  when 
he  lost  sight  of  him  until  he  came  round  and  entered  the  small  aisle  in 
which  Mr.  Giddings  was  standing.  That  from  the  appearance  of 
Dawson's  countenance  he  apprehended  an  intention  of  violence. 

Mr.  Wise  and  some  other  gentlemen  expressed  the  opinion  that  Mr. 
Dawson  intended  no  insult. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  of  Massachusetts,  insisted  on  reading  the  manual  relat 
ing  to  the  privileges  of  members  :  and  Mr.  Adams  inquired  whether 
Dawson  threatened  to  cut  Mr.  Giddings'  throat  from  ear  to  ear  as  he 
had  that  of  the  gentleman  from  Tennessee  ?  alluding  to  an  incident  that 
occurred  a  few  days  previously  when  Mr.  Arnold,  of  Tennessee,  said 
something  unpleasant  to  Mr.  Dawson,  who  went  to  him,  and  in  a  low 
tone  of  voice  assured  Mr.  Arnold  that  if  he  did  not  keep  quiet  he  would 
"  cut  his  throat  from  ear  to  ear."  The  matter  of  privilege  was  dropped 
at  this  point.  Dawson  had  doubtless  acted  with  the  approbation  of 
several  members,  who  probably  intended  to  try  the  experiment  of 
threatening  personal  violence  to  deter  members  from  the  expression 
of  their  views  :  *  but  the  public  did  not  so  regard  it.  Most  men 
believed  that  Dawson  intended  to  have  drawn  from  the  writer  a  blow 
which  would  have  served  as  an  excuse  for  assassination.  The  whole 
scene  served  to  arouse  in  the  public  mind  a  feeling  of  disgust  at  the 
barbarous  habits  of  our  slaveholding  population. 

Resistance  to  the  despotism  of  slavery  was  of  frequent  occurrence 
during  the  twenty-seventh  Congress. 


*  Hon.  David  Lee  Child,  of  Massachusetts,  in  a  published  letter  written  on  the  aame  day  on 
which  this  scene  occurred,  says  : 

"  I  was  sitting  in  the  gallery.  I  saw  Dawson  in  the  centre  of  the  hall  amidst  a  group  of 
southern  members,  all  of  whom  were  looking  extremely  wrathful,  and  one  of  them,  as  I  am 
informed  by  a  member,  said,  with  an  oath,  '  I  would  like  to  cut  off  Giddings'  ears.'  In  this 
excited  group  Dawson  was  conspicuous.  Being  intent  on  hearing,  I  did  not  follow  him  with  the  eye  ; 
but  it  is  stated  by  reporters  and  members  that,  when  he  entered  the  small  aisle  leading  from  the 
circular  passage  to  the  centre  of  the  hall,  he  appeared  intent  upon  some  desperate  action.  Coming 
from  the  rear,  Mr.  Giddings  could  not  of  course  see  him ;  and  as  he  passed  that  gentleman  he 
gave  him  a  violent  push,  with  his  left  elbow,  while  his  right  hand  was  fastened  upon  the  haft  of 
his  bowie-knife ;  but  he  soon  turned  round  and  slowly  advanced  towards  Mr.  Giddings,  still  holding 
his  bowie-knife." 


212  MONSTER  PETITION   FROM   MASSACHUSETTS. 

Encouraged  by  the  exposures  made  in  Congress,  the  people  of  Massa 
chusetts  now  sent  a  petition  asking  that  body  to  pass  such  laws  as  would 
forever  separate  the  people  of  the  free  States  from  the  expense,  and 
crime,  and  disgrace  of  supporting  slavery,  or  the  slave  trade  ? 

The  petition  was  said  -to  be  signed  by  twenty  thousand  citizens  of  that 
State,  and  was  forwarded  to  Mr.  Adams  for  presentation.  And  on  those 
days  allotted  to  the  presentation  of  petitions  by  the  rules  of  the  House, 
it  was  brought  and  placed  upon  the  desk  of  the  veteran  statesman,  who 
patiently  awaited  an  opportunity  for  presenting  it.  The  petition  did  -not 
come  under  the  twenty-first  rule,  and  slaveholders  and  Democrats  ap 
peared  greatly  annoyed  at  seeing  it  ;  and  during  the  entire  session  they 
postponed  by  vote  on  each  alternate  Monday  the  presentation  of  petitions, 
in  order  as  they  said  to  prevent  Mr.  Adams  from  presenting  the 
"  monster  petition}1 

As  the  session  drew  to  a  close,  Mr.  Wiuthrop,  from  the  Committee  on 
Commerce,  reported  a  series  of  resolutions  declaring  that  the  seizure  of 
free  colored  citizens  in  any  part  of  the  United  States  by  fche  local 
authorities,  is  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  citizenship  guaranteed  by  the 
Constitution. 

"  That  the  seizure  of  colored  persons  on  board  the  ships  of  other 
nations,  is  a  violation  of  our  treaty  obligations." 

Mr.  Winthrop  asked  the  adoption  of  these  resolutions.  But  Mr. 
Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  moved  to  lay  them  on  the  table,  and  the  motion 
prevailed  by  a  vote  of  86  to  59. 

In  view  of  the  approaching  presidential  election  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Calhoun  established  a  paper  at  Washington  City,  with  the  admitted 
intention  of /bringing  him  before  the  nation  as  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency.  It  was  called  "  The  Spectator,"  and  one  of  its  avowed 
doctrines  was,  that  the  Federal  Government  was  bound  to  support 
the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States,  and  to  extend  it. 

This  bold  avowal  was  novel  to  the  people  of  the  North.  Up  to  a 
recent  period  the  publicly  avowed  doctrine  had  been  that  Congress  had 
no  right  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States.  To  this  doctrine  the 
writer  had  at  all  times  yielded  approval :  while  Mr.  Adams  only  objected 
to  it,  that  in  time  of  war,  or  insurrection,  the  Federal  Government  might 
interpose  to  abolish  slavery  if  deemed  necessary  to  peace. 

The  intention  of  the  leaders  of  the  democratic  party  to  render  the  free 
States  subsidiary  to  the  institution,  was  now  becoming  rapidly  developed 
to  the  public  view.  They  had  been  defeated  at  the  last  presidential 
election,  principally  because  of  the  extravagant  and  wasteful  expenditure 
of  the  public  moneys.  But  the 'southern  doctrine  that  governments  were 


PLAN   FOB  ANNEXING   TEXAS.  213 

not  bound  by  the  laws  of  justice  and  morality,  had  so  far  corrupted  the 
statesmen  and  politicians  of  the  country,  that  the  Whigs  as  well  as 
Democrats  carefully  avoided  the  .enunciation  of  any  primal  doctrine  or 
elementary  truth  as  the  basis  of  their  organization,  and  were  now  greatly 
divided,  while  the  union  of  southern  slavery  with  northern  democracy 
appeared  to  have  been  fully  consummated. 

The  first  great  movement  of  this  now  consolidated  and  powerful 
organization,  was  directed  to  the  annexation  of  Texas  :  but  no  public 
avowal  had  as  yet  been  made,  -and  the  great  body  of  the  northern  people 
were  ignorant  of  that  conspiracy  to  break  up  the  Union  to  which 
the  American  people  were  so  much  attached  ;  and  bring  into  the 
political  partnership  a  new  slaveholding  State  of  vastly  extended 
territory,  to  wield  an  influence  and  power  over  the  interests  and  honor 
of  our  northern  people,  not  merely  equal  in  proportion  to  their  numbers, 
but  far  superior,  as  they  would  under  the  Constitution  be  clothed  with 
political  influence  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  slaves  they  might 
hold  in  bondage,  counting  five  slaves  equal  to  three  of  our  northern 
freemen. 

Mr.  Adams  possessed  the  means  of  obtaining  perfect  knowledge  of 
whatever  transpired  in  their  most  secret  councils.  He  assured  his  friends 
that  the  effort  to  annex  Texas  was  now  to  be  made  in  good  earnest  ; 
and  as  it  was  intended  to  strengthen,  to  extend  and  perpetuate  the  insti 
tution  of  slavery,  precisely  to  that  extent  would  it  diminish  and  strike 
down  the  liberties  of  the  North. 

Having  obtained  satisfactory  evidence  of  their  intention,  twenty  mem 
bers  of  Congress  united  in  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  free  States, 
assuring  them  that  the  annexation  of  Texas  was  agreed  upon  by  the 
'statesmen  and  politicians  of  the  slave  States  ;  that  the  object  and  inten 
tion  was  to  extend,  increase  and  perpetuate  the  institution  of  slavery  j 
that  it  must  involve  us  in  a  war  with  Mexico,  for  the  support  of  an 
institution  which  all  lovers  of  liberty  detested  ;  that  no  act  could  be  more 
dangerous  than  for  a  government  to  enter  upon  the  conquest  of  territory 
to  enlarge  its  power  ;  that  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  would  not  only 
result  from  this  policy,  but  the  act  itself  would  be  an  abandonment  of 
the  Union  which  we  then  enjoyed,  and  the  formation  of  a  new  one  with 
foreign  slaveholders.  The  address  declared  that  no  act  of  the  Executive 
or  of  Congress,  or  of  all  the  departments  of  Government,  could  impose 
upon  the  people  of  the  free  States  any  constitutional  obligation  to  sub 
mit  to  such  a  transfer,  or  to  become  subservient  in  any  degree  to  the 
foreign  slaveholders  of  Texas.  This  address  was  penned  by  Hon.  Seth  M. 
Gates,  and  was  signed  by  John  Quincy  Adams,  Seth  M.  Gates,  William 


214  PEOTEST   OF   TWENTY    MEMBERS. 

Slade,  William  B.  Calhoun,  Joshua  B,.  Giddings,  Sherlock  J.  Andrews, 
Nathaniel  B.  Borden,  Thomas  C.  Chittenden,  John  Mattocks,  Christo 
pher  Morgan,  Jacob  M.  Howard,  Victory  Birdsey,  Thomas  Tomlinson, 
Staley  N.  Clark,  Charles  Hudson,  Archibald  L.  Linn,  Thomas  W. 
Williams,  Truman  Smith,  David  Bronson,  George  N.  Briggs. 

It  was  published  at  the  close  of  Congress  in  the  "  National  Intel 
ligencer,"  and  was  generally  copied  into  the  whig  papers  of  the  North. 

During  the  session  the  writer  had  received  resolutions  of  thanks,  votes 
of  approval,  and  congratulatory  addresses  from  public  meetings  and 
various  societies  in  nearly  every  free  State  of  the  Union,  for  the  doc 
trines  which  he  had  avowed  in  Congress,  for  the  steadfastness  and  firm 
ness  with  which  he  had  maintained  them.  Mr.  Adams  had  probably 
received  a  much  greater  number.  These  taken  in  the  aggregate 
showed  that  at  least  individuals  and  societies  and  public  meetings 
in  the  free  States  were  engaged  in  arousing  the  people  to  thought  and 
action  : 

Lecturers  were  also  travelling  and  speaking  in  all  the  free  States  ; 
"The  Emancipator, *  "The  Liberator,"  and  "The  Philanthropist," 
were  at  that  time  anti-slavery  papers,  ably  conducted,  and  earnest  in  the 
advocacy  of  the  doctrines  of  freedom. 

1843 .,  The  President  had  been  elected  by  the  whig  party,  without 
any  avowal  of  doctrines  in  regard  to  slavery.  He  was  a  slave 
holder,  and  by  force  of  education,  interest  and  inclination  now  united 
his  fortunes  with  the  democratic  party,  for  the  purpose  of  annex 
ing  Texas  to  the  Union.  And  as  had  been  foretold,  the  work  of  con 
summating  that  outrage  was  commenced  on  the  8th  May,  by  the  dispa,tch 
of  Mr.  Upshur,  our  Secretary  of  State,  to  our  "  Charge  de  Affairs"  in 
Texas.  The  fact  that  Brougham  had  declared  in  the  House  of  Lords 
that  "  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Texas  would  cut  off  the  market  for 
slaves  now  sent  from  the  slave-breeding  States  of  the  Union  to  Texas,  and 
thereby  tend  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  States,"  was  cited  by  the 
Secretary  as  an  incident  of  an  "  alarming  character  ;"  and  he  declared 
that  a  letter  had  been  received  from  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Maryland 
(Gen.  Duff  Green),  saying  that  "slavery  would.be  abolished  in  Texas 
within  the  next  ten  years,  and  probably  within  half  that  time,  unless  it 
we-re  annexed  to  the  United  States."  Under  these  circumstances,  our 
Charge  de  Affairs,  Mr.  Murphy,  was  directed  to  consult  the  authorities 
of  Texas  as  to  their  disposition* in  regard  to  annexation. 

Mr.  Upshur  nor  the  President  appeared  to  entertain  any  doubt  as  to 
the  duty  of  our  Federal  Government  to  support  the  coastwise  slave 
trade  and  slavery  in  the  States. 


THE  MEANING  OF  THE  TEEATY  OF  GHENT.        215 

It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  neither  the  statesmen,  nor  the 
politicians,  nor  the  people,  at  that  time  appeared  to  be  conscious  that 
we  had  pledged  ourselves  in  the  treaty  of  Ghent  to  exert  our  influence 
for  the  entire  abolition  of  "  the  traffic  in  slaves."  But  when  this  solemn 
covenant  was  referred  to  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  slaveholders 
said  it  only  had  reference  to  the  African  slave  trade.  But  that  construc 
tion  was  denied  by  Mr.  Aciams,  who  was  one  of  the  signers  of  thfe  treaty. 
He  assured  the  House  and  the  country  that  the  treaty  meant  just  what 
the  language  imported — "  the  traffic  in  slaves  ;"  that  it  was  intended  to 
abolish  the  crime,  making  no  distinction  as  to  the  place  of  committing  it. 


216  "THE  swiss  GUAEDS  OF  SLAVERY." 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

MR.  ADAMS'  VIEWS  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT — DEFEAT  OF  THE  TREATY  ANNEX 
ING    TEXAS CHARACTER   OF  CONGRESSIONAL  DEBATES. 

1848,  AT  the  assembling  of  the  twenty-eighth  Congress  the  sup 
porters  of  slavery  continued  to  exhibit  great  hostility  towards 
those  who  were  endeavoring  to  establish  a  line  of  demarkation  between 
the  Federal  Government  and  that  institution. 

Messrs.  Slade  and  Gates  had  been  unfaltering  in  their  devotion  to 
justice  and  liberty.  By  their  high  moral  bearing  and  assiduity  they 
had  commanded  the  respect  of  all  who  admired  freedom  ;  but  they 
had  retired  from  Congress,  their  seats  were  filled  by  new  and  un 
tried  members,  and  Mr.  Adams  and  the  humble  individual  now  engaged 
in  writing  these  memoirs  were  left  to  contend  against  a  degree  of  arro 
gance,  despotism  and  persecution  not  easily  appreciated  by  men  of  the 
present  day. 

The  past  services,  the  high  moral  and  social  position  of  Mr.  Adams, 
enabled  him  to  bid  defiance  to  those  who  sought  by  every  means  which 
they  deemed  available  to  affect  his  influence  ;  but  the  author  was  placed 
under  very  different  circumstances.  Slaveholders  and  those  northern 
members  at  that  time  characterized  as  "  the  Swiss  guards  of  slavery," 
determined  on  his  political  and  social  ostracism.  At  Washington  he 
continued  to  be  stigmatized  as  an  "  abolitionist,"  "  an  agitator,"  "  one 
who  was  seeking  notoriety."  Public  meetings  of  the  democratic  party 
adopted  resolutions  denouncing  him  ;  and  democratic  papers  assailed 
him.  Nor  did  the  whig  press  sustain  him.  He  did  not  receive  those 
civilities  usually  extended  to  members  of  Congress :  He  exchanged 
cards  with  but  few  ;  and  wholly  abstained  from  making  calls  of 
ceremony. 

Having  long  served  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Claims,  he  was 
removed  from  that  post,  and  assigned  to  the  seventh  position  in  the 
Committee  on  Revolutionary  Pensions,  which  having  no  business  did  not 
metf.  It  was  under  these  depressing  circumstances  that  the  author 
resumed  the  duties  which  lay  before  him.  His  venerable  coadjutor,  Mr. 
Adams,  was  seventy-six  years  of  age.  His  hand  was  palsied  and  trem 
bling  :  his  voice  was  somewhat  feeble  and  broken,  his  movements 


ME.   ADAMS    DESPONDS. 

denoted  age ;  but  his  intellect  appeared  unimpaired,  while  his  anxiety  for 
his  country  and  his  race  increased.  Although  more  depressed  in  spirit 
than  he  had  previously  been,  he  declared  there  was  but  one  course  for 
public  men,  that  was  to  "  do  their  duty."  Early  in  the  session  he  moved 
the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  report  a  code  of  rules  for  the  govern 
ment  of  the  House  :  his  motion  was  sustained  ;  he  was  of  course  ap 
pointed  chairman,  and  made  a  report  omitting  the  obnoxious  twenty-first 
rule.  The  debate  on  this  report  occupied  the  morning  hour  for  some 
weeks.  During  the  discussion  he  was  often  assailed  ;  but,  in  violation 
of  the  practice  usually  observed,  he  was  not  recognized  by  the  Speaker 
as  entitled  to  the  floor  for  reply.  Yet  his  juniors  in  service  and  in  years 
constantly  assailed  him  with  unexampled  bitterness.  The  author  had 
abstained  from  attempting  to  speak  as  courtesy,  and  parliamentary 
usage  seemed  to  assign  the  floor  to  Mr.  Adams. 

This  state  of  things  had  continued  for  two  weeks,  when  one  morning 
the  writer  entered  the  hall  a  little  before  the  hour  of  meeting.  He  found 
Mr.  Adams  already  in  his  seat,  but  laboring  under  greater  depression 
than  at  any  previous  day.  His  appearance  indicated  the  want  of  sleep. 
He  said  his  health  was  good  ;  but  declared  that  he  had  become  nervous 
and  unable  to  sleep.  He  spoke  most  feelingly^  declaring  that  our  Gov 
ernment  had  become  the  most  perfect  despotism  of  the  Christian  world : 
avowed  himself  physically  disqualified  to  contend  longer  for  the  floor  : 
said  he  must  leave  the  vindication  of  the  report  which  he  had  made  to 
the  author,  as  duty  to  himself  forbade  further  attempts  on  his  part.  He 
said  he  had  indulged  the  hope  of  living  to  see  the  "  gag-rule  repealed," 
but  he  now  regarded  it  as  doubtful. 

The  author  was  thus  left  alone  to  contend  in  favor  of  the  report 
which  Mr.  Adams  had  made.  In  the  course  of  a  few  days  he  obtained 
an  opportunity  of  speaking,  and  so  far  as  able  discharged  the  duty  so 
strongly  impressed  upon  his  mind  by  Mr.  Adams. 

It  was  during  this  debate  that  an  incidental  remark  was  made  by 
Mr.  Adams,  that  was  often  quoted  in  subsequent  years.  Mr. 
Dillett,  of  Alabama,  a  man  of  age  and  of  talents  above  the  mediocrity 
of  members,  was  speaking  upon  this  report.  Like  other  Representatives 
from  the  South,  he  appeared  anxious  to  assail  Mr.  Adams.  He  held  in 
his  hand  the  report  of  a  speech  delivered  by  the  object  of  his  assault  to 
the  colored  people  of  Pit.tsburg,  Pennsylvania.  From  this  he  read  the 
following  passage  :  "  We  know  that  the  day  of  your  redemption  must 
come.  The  time  and  the  manner  of  its  coming  we  know  not :  It  may 
come  in  peace,  or  it  may  come  in  blood  ;  but,  whether  in  peace  or  in 
blood,  LET  IT  COME,"  Having  read  this  sentence,  he  invoked  attention  to 


218  A   SOLEMN  INVOCATION. 

it,  and  in  order  that  all  might  appreciate  it,  he  read  it  a  second  time  ; 
and  as  his  voice  died  away.,  Mr.  Adams,  in  his  seat,  with  peculiar  em 
phasis,  added,  "  I  say  now,  let,  it  come."  Dillett,  apparently  indignant  at 
what  he  regarded  the  audacity  of  Mr.  Adams,  added,  "  Yes,  the  gentle 
man  now  says  let  it  come,  though  it  cost  the.  blood  of  thousands  of  white 
men."  To  which  Mr.  Adams  rejoined  :  "  Though  it  cost  the  blood  of 
MILLIONS  OP  WHITE  MEN,  LET  IT  COME.;  Let  justice  be  done  though  the 
heavens  fall." 

These  words  rose  from  the  lips  of  the  aged  patriot  like  the  prayer  of 
faith  from  one  of  heaven's  anointed  prophets  :  A  sensation  of  horror 
ran  through  the  ranks  of  the  slaveholders  :  Dillett  stood  apparently 
lost  in  astonishment,  and  all  were  silent  and  solemn  until  the  Speaker 
awoke  members  to  the  subject  before  them  by  declaring  the  gentleman 
from  Massachusetts  was  out  of  order. 

The  report  of  Mr.  Adams,  after  occupying  the  morning  hour  for 
four  weeks,  was  laid  on  the  table  by  a  small  majority. 
1844  -,  A  colored  man  named  William  Jones  was  imprisoned  in  the  jail 
at  Washington  under  suspicion  that  he  was  a  fugitive  slave.  He 
found  means  to  send  a  petition  to  the  author,  stating  that  he  was  a  free 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  born  in  Virginia,  and  while  residing  in 
Washington  City,  and  demeaning  himself  peacefully  and  kindly  towards 
his  fellow-men,  and  without  any  charge  of  crime  or  offence  he  had  been 
seized  and  imprisoned,  and  after  considerable  expense  had  been  incurred, 
which  he  was  unable  to  pay,  he  was  advertised  for  sale  to  meet  the  costs 
thus  unjustly  incurred.  He  asserted  that  he  had  no  owner  but  God,  and 
owed  no  allegiance  but  to  his  country.  He  prayed  Congress  to  protect 
him  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  liberty.  The  petition  being  presented,  the  au 
thor  moved  its  reference  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  The  presen 
tation  of  this  petition  from  one  presumed  by  southern  laws  and  southern 
men  to  be  a  slave  created  some  sensation  ;  but  there  was  no  display  of 
ruffianism  on  the  occasion,  no  attempt  to  censure  the  member  presenting 
the  memorial,  no  display  of  bowie-knives,  no  indications  of  personal  vio 
lence.  Indeed,  the  petition  was  respectfully  received,  but  the  debate 
upon  it  was  postponed  until  the  following  day,  when  Mr.  Saunders,  of 
North  Carolina,  declared  that  the  law  in  all  slave  States  presumed  every 
colored  person  a  slave  that  could  not  prove  his  freedom  :  that  such  was 
the  law  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  respect  for  those  laws  demanded 
the  instant  rejection  of  the  petition. 

To  this  it  was  replied,  that  no  such  presumption  could  be  just  or  rea 
sonable,  or  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution  :  that  it  was  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  a  mode  of  enslaving  free  persons,  and  was  piratical 


THE  NAVY  MAINTAINS  THE   SLAVE  TRADE.  219 

in  its  character.  Messrs.  Adams,  of  Massachusetts;  Stetsan,  Davis,  and 
Beardsley,  of  New  York;  and  Giddings,  of  Ohio,  spoke  in  favor  of  the 
motion,  which  was  strenuously  opposed  by  Messrs.  Saunders,  of  North 
Carolina;  Campbell,  of  South  Carolina:  Cobb  and  Stephens,  of  Georgia; 
McConnel  and  Payne,  of  Alabama;  and  A.  V.  Brown,  of  Tennessee. 
But  the  motion  was  sustained  by  a  vote  of  15  to  40. 

The  committee  were  proslavery  in  character,  and  made  no  report 
on  the  memorial,  which,  like  all  others  touching  slavery,  was  entombed 
in  the  document  rooms  of  the  House  of  Representatives.* 

A  debate  arose  during  the  early  part  of  this  session  upon  the  "  home 
squadron,"  which  developed  to  the  public  view  the  employment  of  Uni 
ted  States  vessels  in  the  nefarious  work  of  pursuing  and  capturing  fugi 
tive  slaves  who  attempted  to  flee  from  Florida  and  from  Georgia  to  the 
British  West  India  Islands.  It  appeared  that  the  administration  was 
keeping  this  "  home  squadron"  principally  upon  the  lookout  for  the  re 
lief  of  slave  ships  employed  in  transporting  human  cargoes  around  the 
peninsula  of  Florida  to  the  New  Orleans  market,  so  that  in  case  of  ship 
wreck  the  slaves  need  not  be  taken  to  British  islands.  Thus,  while  one 
portion  of  our  navy  was  engaged  in  putting  down  the  slave  trade  on  the 
African  coast,  another  portion  was  employed  in  maintaining  it  on  the 
American  coast. 

This  employment  of  our  navy  in  the  disgraceful  work  of  chasing  down 
fugitive  slaves  created  disgust  among  the  people,  who  entertained  a  laud 
able  pride  in  the  glory  of  our  naval  victories  in  former  tunes. 

On  the  same  day  Mr.  Adams  presented  a  petition  from  some  two  hun 
dred  and  twenty  citizens  of  Washington  County,  Illinois,  praying  Con 
gress  to  acknowledge  the  Christian  religion,  by  securing  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States  the  right  to  enjoy  life,  liberty,  and  happiness. 
The  petition  excited  much  debate.  Mr.  Adams,  with  great  force, 
urged  that  statesmen  and  governments  were  bound  by  the  precepts 
of  the  Gospel  "  to  do  unto  others  as  they  would  have  others  do 
unto  them,"  precisely  as  individuals  in  private  life  were  bound  to  treat 
their  fellow-men.  Southern  members  were  quite  indignant  at  the  doc 
trine  ;  insisting  that  slavery  nor  the  slave  trade  constituted  a  violation 
of  the  Christian  religion.  The  petition  was,  after  full  debate,  laid  on 
the  table. 

Mr.  Adams  also  presented  a  petition  numerously  signed  by  citizens  of 
New  York,  praying  such  amendments  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 

*  Colonel  Benton,  in  his  Abridgment  of  Congressional  Debates,  passed  over  this  entire  discus 
sion  without  even  referring  to  it. 


220  PETITION   FOE   AMENDING    THE   CONSTITUTION. 

the  United  States,  as  were  necessary  to  separate  the  Government  and 
people  of  the  free  States  from  all  support  of  slavery,  which,  on  motion 
of  Mr.  Ad-ams,  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  after  full 
debate,  by  a  vote  of  97  to  80. 

From  incidents  which  now  occurred  almost  daily,  it  became  evident 
that  the  twenty-first  rule  of  the  House  was  rapidly  becoming  inoperate 
and  obsolete. 

By  repeated  declarations  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  public 
mind  had  been  directed  to  that  feature  of  the  Federal  Constitution  which 
gives  to  the  people  of  the  slave  States  influence  in  the  Federal  Go 
vernment  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  slaves  which  they  hold  in 
bondage,  counting  five  slaves  equal  to  three  freemen.  All  saw  that 
it  did  not  operate  in  favor  of  the  slaves,  but  only  enabled  the  mas 
ters  to  rivet  their  chains  more  firmly.  The  people  of  the  North  had 
submitted  to  it  quite  cheerfully  so  long  as  those  of  the  South  per 
mitted  the  subject  of  slavery  to  remain  without  agitation  ;  but  now 
they  felt  that  justice  to  the  North  required  an  amendment  of  the 
Constitution  in  this  respect  ;  and  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts 
adopted  an  able  memorial  calling  on  Congress  so  to  amend  the  Con 
stitution  as  to  give  equal  rights  and  equal  privileges  to  the  free  people  of 
all  the  States. 

Mr.  Adams  presented  the  petition  and  moved  its  reference  to  a  select 
committee,  which  was  ordered,  after  debate,  and  Messrs.  Adams,  of 
Massachusetts;  Rhett,  of  South  Carolina;  I.  R.  Ingersoll,  of  Pennsylvania;  - 
Gilmer,  of  Virginia;  Davis,  of  Kentucky;  Burke,  of  New  Hampshire; 
Morse,  of  Maine;  Sample,  of  Indiana,  and  Giddings,  of  Ohio,  were 
appointed,  Mr.  Adams  being  chairman. 

The  question  was  important,  and  the  proceedings  of  the  committee 
were  conducted  with  great  solemnity.  The  arguments  for  and  against 
the  proposition  were  advanced  with  much  apparent  sincerity,  and  the 
most  perfect  decorum  was  observed  by  every  member. 

The  first  question  propounded  to  the  committee  was  on  the  adoption 
of  a  resolution  declaring  it  ^expedient  at  that  time  for  the  House  of 
Representatives  to  recommend  such  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution. 
This  was  unanimously  agreed  to  :  and  the  chairman  was  directed  to 
draw  up  a  report  to  that  effect.  This  was  done,  and  every  member  met 
promptly  at  the  appointed  time  to  hear  it  read. 

It  was  drawn  with  consummate  ability  :  declaring  that  the  provision 
of  the  Constitution  which  gives  the  enslavers  of  mankind  superior  influ 
ence  and  superior  privileges  in  the  Government  to  those  enjoyed  by  the 


A   CHRISTIAN   GOVERNMENT.  .  221 

supporters  of  liberty  "  is.  opposed  to  the  vital  principles  of  republican 
representation  ;  to  '  the  self-evident  truths '  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  ;  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Constitution  itself  ;  to  the  letter 
and  spirit  of  the  constitutions  of  almost  all  the  States  of  the  Union  ;  to 
the  liberties  of  the  whole  people  of  the  free  States  ;  and  to  all  that  portion 
of  the  people  of  the  slave  States  other  than  the  owners  of  slaves  ;  that 
this  is  its  essential  and  unextinguishable  character  in  principle  :  and  that 
its  fruits  in  its  entire  practical  operation  upon  the  Government  correspond 
with  that  character."  ,»,»"• 

These  propositions  were  enforced  with  all  that  logic  and  terseness  of 
expression  for  which  its  author  was  distinguished.  He  then  proceeded 
to  show  that  "  the  self-evident"  truths  "  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence  were  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  Gos 
pel,  which  teach  that  equal  justice  to  all  men  should  govern  the  conduct 
of  every  individual,  whether  acting  in  a  private  or  public  capacity  :  that 
this  principle  constitutes  the  chief  corner  stone  of  all  republican 
governments,  as  well  as  of  all  Christian  organizations. 

The  report  asserts  that  "  the  Declaration  of  Independence  constituted  a 
sacred  pledge  IN  THE  NAME  OF  GOD,  solemnly  given  ly  each  State,  TO 

ABOLISH  SLAVERY  SOON  AS  PRACTICABLE,  AND  TO  SUBSTITUTE  FREEDOM  IN 
ITS  PLACE." 

It  asserts  that  slavery  is  opposed  to  all  the  teachings  of  the  Gospel  ; 
is  at  war  with  God's  attribute  of  justice,  and  should  be  eradicated  from 
.the  earth.* 

It  was  at  once  seen  that  while  Mr.  Adams  agreed  that  the  time  for 
recommending  a  change  of  the  Constitution  had  not  arrived,  yet  the  doc 
trines  enunciated  and  the  process  by  which  he  arrived  at  his  conclusion 
were  in  all  respects  calculated  to  arouse  a  spirit  in  the  American 
people  that  would  be  likely  to  effect  that  change  at  some  future  day.  Mr. 
Adams  and  the  author  signed  this  report  :  while  Messrs.  Morse,  Sam 
ple,  and  Burke  each  drew  his  own  report.  Messrs.  Davis  and  Inger- 
soll  signed  another,  and  Messrs.  Gilmer  and  Rhett  another.  They  are 
not  diffusive,  but  in  the  aggregate  they  constitute  a  volume  which  may 
well  interest  the  student  of  our  political  history. 

The  memorial  and  resolves  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  were 
also  presented  in  the  Senate,  where  they  were  denounced  "  as  resolutions 
to  dissolve  the  Union  :"  and  the  usual  courtesy  paid  to  resolutions  of  State 
Legislatures  was  refused  :  they  were  laid  on  the  table,  but  the  motion 
to  print  them  was  rejected. 

*  This  is  believed  to  be  the  first  official  document  placed  in  the  national  archives  after  the  peti 
tion  of  Dr.  Franklin  in  1790  which  in  words  asserts  that  religiou-s  truth  constitutes  the  basis  of 
human  governments. 


222  CTJ^AN   PIEATE8  TO  BE  COMPENSATED. 

A  few  days  subsequently  Mr.  Berrien,  of  Georgia,  presented  resolu 
tions  from  that  State  in  opposition  to  any  change  of  the  Constitution 
which  might  take  from  the  slave  States  the  right  of  slave  representation. 
These  resolutions  were  respectfully  laid  on  the  table  and  ordered  to  le 
printed.  Mr.  Bates,  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  called  attention  to 
this  difference  in  the  respect  shown  to  different  States  ;  but  neither  he 
nor  any  other  Senator  proposed  to  correct  the  gross  insult  thus  offered 
to  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 

1844  ^e  circirmstances  relating  to  the  slave  ship  "  Amistad"  and  the 

captives  on  board,  were  laid  before  the  reader  in  a  previous  chap 
ter.  But  at  this  session,  Hon.  Charles  I.  Ingersoll,  of  Pennsylvania, 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  made  a  long  report, 
assailing  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  declaring  those  Africans 
free,  and  recommending  an  appropriation  from  the  public  treasury  of 
fifty  thousand  dollars  to  compensate  the  Cuban  slavedealers  for  the  loss 
of  their  victims.  Having  made  the  report,  he  moved  to  print  ten  thou 
sand  extra  copies  to  be  circulated  among  the  people,  with  the  obvious 
intention  to  prepare  the  public  mind  to  support  the  slave  trade.  The 
author  opposed  the  motion  ;  and  endeavored  in  a  short  speech  to  demon 
strate  Mr.  Ingersoll's  errors  of  fact  and  of  law  ;  and  to  hold  up  his 
policy  to  the  odium  of  the  country.  Mr.  Giddings  stated  that  as  a  na 
tion  we  had  pronounced  those  engaged  in  the  slave  trade  "  pirates  n  un 
worthy  to  live  ;  but  he  denied  that  they  were  more  guilty  than  those 
members  of  Congress  who  encouraged  their  accursed  vocation  ;  or  those 
who  attempted  to  reconcile  the  public  conscience  to  that  aggregation  of 
all  the  baser  crimes  which  disgrace  human  nature. 

The  author's  friends  were  alarmed  at  the  severity  of  his  remarks  ;  but 
he  was  perfectly  aware  that  Mr.  Adams  would  reply  to  Mr.  Ingersoll ; 
and  would  not  fail  to  vindicate  his  position.  Mr.  Ingersoll  himself 
appeared  to  understand,  that  the  man  whom  he  most  dreaded  would 
follow  him  :  for,  instead  of  attempting  to  answer  the  remarks  of  Mr 
Giddings,  he  yielded  the  floor  to  Mr.  Weller,  of  Ohio,  who  moved  to 
lay  the  motion  on  the  table ;  and  Mr.  Ingersoll  himself  voted  to  con 
sign  his  own  motion  to  that  common  receptacle  of  discarded  proposi 
tions. 

The  address  of  the  twenty  members  of  Congress,  to  the  people  of  the 
free  States,  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter,  called  up  the  attention 
of  the  Mexican  government  to  the  conspiracy  then  being  formed  in  the 
United  States  for  dismembering  that  Republic.  The  Mexican  Executive, 
on  receipt  of  this  intelligence,  notified  the  President  that  Texas  was 
a  revolted  province,  which  the  government  of  Mexico  was  endeavoring 


SENILITY    BEVEBENCED.  223 

to  bring  back  to  its  allegiance  by  force  of  arms  ;  and  that  its  annexation 
to  the  United  States  must  of  necessity  carry  with  it  the  state  of  hostili 
ties  in  which  Texas  was  engaged. 

The  President,  in  the  meantime,  proceeded  with  all  possible  activity 
to  arrange  and  perfect  a  treaty  of  annexation  with  the  authorities  of 
Texas.  This  was  of  course  unknown  to  the  people  of  the  free  States 
until  it  had  been  signed.  Nor  did  the  President  in  his  Annual  Message 
intimate  such  intention  ;  but  referred  to  the  notice  which  the  Executive 
had  received  from  the  government  of  Mexico,  in  regard  to  existing 
hostilities  between  her  and  Texas,  and  spoke  of  the  action  of  the  Mexi 
can  government  as  founded  upon  "  newspaper  reports ;"  while  at  the  same 
time  he  entered  upon  an  elaborate  argument  in  favor  of  the  proposed 
annexation,  asserting,  that  it  would  not  disturb  the  peaceful  relations  then 
existing  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States. 

But  the  address  of  Mr.  Adams  and  other  members  of  Congress 
had  gone  forth  to  the  people,  was  yet  before  the  public,  and 
it  was  deemed  necessary  to  counteract  the  impression  which  it  was 
apparently  making  upon  the  public  mind.  Immediately  on  the  ap 
pearance  of  that  address,  Hon.  Aaron  V.  Brown,  of  Tennessee, 
wrote  General  Jackson  upon  the  subject,  asking  his  opinion  of  the 
policy. 

The  venerable  ex-President  had  in  former  times  been  the  acknowledged 
oracle  of  the  democratic  party  ;  but  was  now  spending  the  fading 
twilight  of  his  earthly  existence  at  the  Hermitage  in  Tennessee. 
Understanding  what  was  wanted,  he  wrote  Mr.  Brown,  urging  the 
immediate  annexation  of  Texas,  lest  England  should  obtain  it,  and 
saying,  "it  will  be  a  strong  iron  hoop  around  the  Union,  AND  A  BUL 
WARK  TO  HOLD  IT  TOGETHER  ;"  and  this  utterance  of  senility,  without 
fact,  argument  or  reason  to  sustain  it,  was  published  to  the  world, 
under  the  democratic  announcement  "  that  it  was  a  legacy  of  the  greatest 
living  statesman,  permitted  by  Heaven  to  advise  his  countrymen  in  the  hour 
of -their  necessity." 

But  this  dictum  of  mental  decrepitude  had  far  greater  effect  among  the 
southern  Lazaroni  who  could  neither  read  nor  write,  than  it  had  among 
the  educated  laborers  of  the  free  States,  where  many  of  the  democratic 
party  hesitated,  and  some  refused  to  follow  the  suggestions  of  their 
southern  leaders. 

To  reconcile  conflicting  opinions,  it  was  proposed  to  adopt  the  general 
policy,  of  obtaining  territory  wherever  it  was  to  be  had  ;  and  as  we  were 
holding  a  joint  occupation  with  the  British  government  of  Oregon,  a 
fair  opportunity  was  presented  for  extending  our  exclusive  jurisdiction 


224:  TEEATY   WITH   TEXAS. 

over  it.     This  proposition  appeared  to  reconcile  most  northern  Democrats 
to  the  policy  of  annexing  Texas.* 

The  Executive  therefore  renewed  diplomatic  correspondence  with  the 
British  government  for  the  settlement  of  our  territorial  boundaries  in 
Oregon.  Feeling  somewhat  bound  by  the  action  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren,  his 
predecessor,  he  proposed  to  establish  the  line  upon  the  49th  parallel  of 
latitude  ;  but  the  proposition  was  rejected  and  the  negotiation  failed. 

With  Texas  the  President  was  more  successful.  The  Mexican  gov 
ernment  had  entered  a  decree  abolishing  slavery  in  all  its  intendancies  : 
to  resist  this  progress  of  civilization,  adventurers  from  our  slave  States, 
had  gone  to  that  territory  and  raised  the  standard  of  resistance.  For 
years  they  shed  their  blood,  and  spent  their  substance  in  efforts  to  con 
tinue  the  barbarous  institution  of  African  bondage  ;  and  now  were  not 
unwilling  to  have  the  United  States  fight  their  battles  and  defray  the 
expenses  of  the  further  prosecution  of  this  war  for  slavery. 

Preparatory  to  entering  upon  the  subject,  the  President  had  dismissed 
Mr.  Webster  from  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State,  and  appointed  Mr. 
Upshur,  of  Virginia,  and  upon  his  death,  had  placed  Mr.  Calhoun  in 
that  important  position,  with  the  apparent  purpose  not  only  of  secur 
ing  the  annexation  of  Texas,  but  at  the  same  time  to  obtain  the  confi 
dence  of  the  democratic  party,  to  whom  he  now  looked  for  a  reelection 
to  the  Chief  Magistracy. 

1844  Under  these  circumstances,  he  easily  effected  such  a  treaty  as 

he  desired,  and  in  due  season  transmitted  it  to  the  Senate  for 
ratification,  felicitating  himself  with  the  expectation  that  a  lasting  fame 
would  attach  to  this  addition  of  a  vast  territory  'to  our  Union. 

But  this  contest  for  anticipated  glory  was  subjected  to  unexpected 
difficulty.  Mr.  Benton  of  the  Senate  resisted  the  approval  of  the  treaty, 
He  had  been  the  early  and  distinguished  friend  of  Texas,  but  he  de 
nounced  the  injustice  of  making  the  -Rio  Grande  the  southern  and 
western  boundary  of  that  State,  as  it  would  embrace  a  large  part  of 
New  Mexico,  including  "  Santa  F6"  its  capital,  as  well  as  large  por 
tions  of  Chiuaua  and  Coahuila,  with  some  of  their  most  populous  towns 
and  villages,  and  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  square  miles  of 
territory  to  which  Texas  had  no  claim  whatever.  And  secondly,  he 
insisted  that  as  Texas  was  engaged  in  civil  war  with  Mexico,  the  Seua,te 
did  not  possess  the  constitutional  authority  to  involve  the  nation  in  that 
war  by  annexing  Texas  to  the  Unioa.  These  objections  prevailed,  and 
the  treaty  was  rejected. 

*  This  statement  is  founded  upon  the  assertion  of  leading  Democrats  made  in  public  debate  oa 
the  Oregon  question  during  the  first  session,  twenty-ninth  Congress. 


ME.    WKBSTEK   AND    THE   WHIG   PARTY.  225 

But  the  President,  apparently  undismayed,  intently  pursued  his  pur 
pose.  Soon  as  the  Senate  rejected  the  treaty,  he  transmitted  a 
message  to  the  House  of  Representatives  stating  such  rejection  and 
urging  upon  that  body  the  great  importance  of  uniting  Texas  to  the 
Union  ;  suggested  that  it  might  be  affected  by  joint  resolution,  which 
could  pass  the  Senate  by  a  bare  majority,  while  it  required  two-thirds 
to  confirm  the  treaty. 

From  this  time  until  the  close  of  the  session  the  annexation  of  Texas 
was  debated,  both  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  The 
documents,  including  all  the  correspondence  on  the  subject,  had  been 
transmitted  to  the  Senate  with  the  treaty,  and  were  published  by  order 
of  that  body. 

Leading  members  of  the  democratic  party  sustained  the  positions 
assumed  by  the  Executive,  that  it  was  necessary  to  unite  Texas  to  the 
Union  in  order  to  preserve  slavery  therein  ;  that  unless  annexed  the 
institution  would  be  blotted  from  existence  ;  and  the  emancipated  popu 
lation  of  Texas  would  endanger  the  institution  in  the  United  States. 
They  boldly  insisted  that  the  Constitution  had  "guaranteed  slavery  to 
the  South,"  and  quoted  the  letter  of  Mr.  Webster,  to  our  Minister  at 
London^  heretofore  noticed  as  high  authority  on  the  subject  :  and  the 
doctrine  enunciated  in  the  resolutions  of  Mr.  Calhoun  in  the  Senate  of 
1840,  for  which  Mr.  Webster  and  other  Whig  Senators  dared  not  vote, 
and  had  not  the  manliness  to  oppose,  were  now  quoted  as  precedents  of 
high  authority  ;  inasmuch  as  they  had  been  subsequently  referred  to 
by  distinguished  statesmen,  in  order  to  sustain  the  coastwise  slave 
trade.  To  discard  these  doctrines  would  constitute  a  repudiation  of  Mr. 
Webster,  and  must  offend  his  personal  friends  and  admirers  :  to  sustain 
tftem  would  of  course  drive  from  the  party  all  who  believed  the  Govern 
ment  and  Constitution  were  ordained  to  sustain  freedom.  The  highest 
policy  of  the  whig  party,  consisted  in  suppressing,  so  far  as  possible, 
all  examination  of  Mr.  Webster's  opinions  on  this  and  kindred  subjects. 

The  presidential  election  was  approaching.  Mr.  Webster 
was  an  aspirant  for  that  office.  Mr.  Clay  was  also  looking  for 
the  nomination  of  the  whig  party.  He  was  a  slaveholder,  and  it  waa 
perfectly  apparent  that  the  assertion  of  any  primal  truth,  or  elementary 
principle  of  government,  would  divide  the  whig  party. 

That  organization  now  found  itself  paralized  by  the  doctrines  of  Mr. 
Webster,  and  the  condition  of  Mr.  Clay  ;  and  their  failure  in  the  approach 
ing  canvass  was  foreseen  by  all  reflecting  statesmen  and  politicians. 

The  real  position  of  Mr.  Adams  and  the  author  became  obvious.  Mr. 
Giddings  continued  to  adhere  to  the  whig  party,  a.^1  unhesitatingly 

15 


226 


announced  his  own  doctrines  as  those  of  that  organization.  He  avowed 
his  determination  to  oppose  any  candidate  who  would  involve  the  people 
of  the  free  States  in  the  support  of  slavery,  or  of  the  coastwise  slave 
trade.  Mr.  Adams,  however,  continued  to  maintain  an  entire  independ 
ence  of  all  political  parties,  laying  down  no  specific  platform  of  political 
faith,  but  sustaining  or  objecting  to  measures  as  they  came  before  him 
for  official  action. 

1844  ]  ^r-  Benton  had  introduced  a  bill  into  the  Senate  providing 
for  the  annexation  of  Texas  ;  and  in  urging  its  passage  he  enter 
ed  upon  a  history  of  the  efforts  put  forth  to  obtain  the  treaty  of  annex 
ation,  and  assuming  to  himself  the  principal  merit  of  the  preparatory 
movements,  denounced  Mr.  Brown,  of  Tennessee,  with  "  having  been 
charged  with  some  vicarious  enterprise  against  him"  when  addressing 
General  Jackson  on  the  subject  :  And  for  a  time  the  course  of  Mr. 
Benton  appeared  likely  to  defeat  the  entire  object.* 

But  the  leaders  of  that  party  were  usually  fortunate  in  avoiding  all 
.difficulty  arising  among  its  members.  Mr.  Yan  Buren  had  been  the 
candidate  of  the  party,  and  was  defeated  in  1840.  He  was  an  able  man 
and  had  ever  yielded  to  the  interests  of  the  South  ;  but  unfortunately 
for  himself,  had  expressed  an  opinion  that  the  Constitution  had  made  no 
provision  for  annexing  a  foreign  government  to  ours.  It  therefore  be 
came  necessary  to  overcome  the  influences  which  were  operating  in  favor 
of  his  nomination  :  to  reconcile  these  conflicting  interests  required  the 
exercise  of  all  the  tact  and  skill  of  the  slave  power. 

The  Legislatures  of  Mississippi  and  of  other  democratic  States  adopt 
ed  resolutions  in  favor  of  uniting  Texas  to  the  Union.  Memorials  from 
the  people,  and  proceedings  of  primary  meetings  in  favor  of  that  measure, 
were  forwarded  to  Congress,  and  "  annexation"  became  the  watchword 
of  the  party  :  And  no  man  was  regarded  as  in  full  fellowship,  and  en 
titled  to  its  confidence  unless  he  were  able  to  pronounce  that  "  Shibokth" 
of  the  slaveholders. 

The  parties  held  their  nominating  conventions  in  the  month  of  May, 
and  the  Democrats  announced  their  intention  to  obtain  Oregon  and 
Texas  as  a  part  of  their  distinctive  policy  ;  and  nominated  Hon.  James 
K.  Polk,  of  Tennessee,  as  their  candidate.  The  Whigs,  as  was  expected, 
nominated  Mr.  Clay  as  their  leader  ;  but  neither  party  proclaimed  any 
moral  truth  or  essential  principle  as  the  basis  of  their  claims  for  sup 
port. 

*  Many  believed  that  Mr.  Benton,  as  well  as  Mr.  Tyler,  aspired  to  the  office  of  President,  upon 
the  fame  which  was  then  expected  by  him  who  should  exert  the  most  efficient  means  for  bringing 
in  Texas  as  one  of  the  States  of  the  American  Union. 


DIFFERENT    CONSTRUCTIONS    OF   THE   CONSTITUTION.  227 

And  now  "the  Lone  Star  of  Texas"  was  seen  on  every  flag  of  the 
democratic  organization.  In  the  North,  "  Oregon"  was  proclaimed 
as  an  object  of  political  desire  ;  while  it  was  but  seldom  if  ever 
named  in  the  South.  But  the  doctrines  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  endorsed  by 
Mr.  Webster,  were  urged  by  public  speakers  at  every  convention  of  that 
party.  Northern  Democrats  now  listened  to  public  speakers  in  the 
northern  States,  who  reiterated  the  doctrines  avowed  by  Mr.  Calhoun 
and  repeated  by  Mr.  Webster,  "  that  the  Constitution  had  guaranteed 
slavery  to  the  South." 

In  this  way  the  democracy  of  the  North  were  educated  and  rig44 
instructed  in  the  belief,  that  the  people  of  the  free  States  were 
under  constitutional,  obligations  to  sustain  slavery  and  the  coastwise  slave 
trade.  Nor  was  this  education  confined  to  the  democratic  party.  Whig 
presses  proclaimed  Mr.  Webster  to  be  "  the  expounder  of  the  Constitu 
tion  :"  They  insisted  that  the  people  were  bound  to  adopt  the  views  of 
distinguished  men  as  the  doctrines  of  the  Constitution.  Public 
speakers  ridiculed  the  idea  that  men  in  the  ordinary  walks  of  life  were 
capable  of  understanding  that  instrument,  and  they  insisted  that  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  constituted  the  tribunal  of  dernier 
ressort  for  construing  the  Constitution  ;  and  that  their  decisions 
were  binding  upon  all  departments  of  the  Government  and  upon  the 
people. 

The  anti-slavery  men  insisted  that  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  intended  the  Govern 
ment  should  uphold  liberty  and  not  slavery:  That  those  instruments 
were  framed  for  that  purpose,  and  that  the  people  had  a  perfect  right, 
and  it  was  their  duty  to  elect  to  office  men  who  would  wield  the  influence 
and  power  of  the  Government  for  freedom  and  justice,  and  against  slavery 
and  oppression  :  That  the  people,  having  framed  the  Constitution  and 
having  adopted  it,  possess  the  sole  power  to  change  or  alter  it;  may  elect  to 
office  men  who  hold  to  the  popular  construction  of  that  instrument ;  and 
that  such  officer  when  elected,  would,  in  good  faith  and  honor,  be  bound  to 
carry  out  that  construction  on  which  he  had  been  elected  :  That  the  Presi 
dent  may  be  elected  for  the  reason  that  he  differs  from  the  Supreme  Court ; 
and  when  elected  he  would  be  bound  to  appoint  judges  who  agreed 
with  him  in  doctrine,  whenever  vacancies  occur  ;  while  the  judges  of 
the  Court  are  bound  to  give  that  construction  which  their  judgments 
dictate,  and  their  final  decrees  are  binding  only  upon  parties,  and  upon 
privies  in  interest  and  privies  in  blood.  The  Whigs  lost  much  influence 
by  efforts  to  sustain  their  position,  the  popular  iniiid  being  against  their 
doctrine. 


228  8LAVEHOLDINO   DOCTRINES   EXPOSED. 

But  the  author  having  been  publicly  censured  in  Congress  for  deny* 
1844 ,  ing  that  any  right  existed  in  the  Federal  Government  to  involve 
the  people  of  the  free  States  in  support  of  the  slave  trade,  or 
slavery,  and  having  been  specifically  instructed  by  his  constituents  to 
maintain  this  position,  he  felt  neither  hesitation  nor  delicacy  in 
carrying  out  his  instructions  ;  and  perhaps  he  can  give  no  better 
description  of  the  spirit  in  which  his  doctrines  were  asserted,  and 
that  in  which  they  were  received,  than  by  the  following  extracts  from 
a  speech  delivered  on  the  21st  of  May,  1844  :  "Mr.  Giddings  said, 
I  feel  constrained,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  bestow  a  passing  notice  upon  the 
position  assumed  by  the  advocates  of  annexation,  that  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  has  guaranteed  slavery  to  the  southern  States  of  this  Union. 
With  all  due  respect  for  their  talents  and  learning  I  may  be  permitted 
to  deny  that  any  guaranty  whatever  in  regard  to  slavery  is  found  in 
the  Constitution  !  When  the  gentleman  from  Alabama  (Mr.  Belser) 
asserted  this  doctrine  the  other  day,  I  inquired  where  it  was  to  be 
found  ?  He  first  said  he  found  it  in  common  sense ;  but  not  satisfied 
with  that  reference,  he  said  it  was  found  in  common  justice ;  but  finally 
said  it  was  in  the  Constitution  !  I  inquired  in  what  part  of  the  Con 
stitution  ?  He  replied  that  he  had  not  then  time  to  find  it  I  I  will 
now  pause  that  he  may  inform  the  committee  of  the  section  and  article 
in  which  it  may  be  seen  ?  (Mr.  Belser  sat  in  silence  in  his  seat,  and 
after  a  pause  Mr.  Giddings  continued.) 

"  I  was  fully  aware  when  I  propounded  the  question,  that  he  had  not 
time  then  to  find  this  important  guaranty  :  I  was  conscious  that  he 
would  not  have  time  during  the  hour  allotted  me  to  find  it.  And  now 
I  say  to  the  gentleman  and  to  this  committee  that  his  lifetime  will  be  too 
short  to  find  it ;  nay,  Mr.  Chairman,  eternity  will  not  disclose  it,  for  IT 
DOES  NOT  EXIST.  Yet,  sir,  this  senseless  jargon  ;  this  constant  repetition 
concerning  the  '  constitutional  guarantees  of  slavery '  is  daily  sounding 
in  our  ears.  It  is  put  forth  by  men  of  character,  and  those  high  in 
office.  Sir,  I  take  this  occasion  to  repeat  my  assertion  that  no  such 
stipulation  exists  or  ever  did  exist  in  that  instrument.  And  standing 
here  in  the  presence  of  so  many  learned  and  able  statesmen  of  the 
South,  many  of  whom  have  repeated  the  unfounded  assumption,  I  now 
call  upon  any  one  or  all  of  them  to  refer  me  to  any  such  covenant  or 
stipulation  in  the  Constitution  I " 

Mr.  Brengle,  of  Maryland,  stated,  that  at  the  formation  of  the  Con 
stitution  slavery  existed  in  most  of  the  States,  and  slaves  were  regarded 
as  property,  and  in  that  light  were  the  subject  of  protection  as  much  as 
other  property. 


GUARANTY    OF   SLAVERY   REFUTED.  229 

Mr.  Giddings.  "  Will  the  gentleman  point  me  to  the  section  in  which 
I  may  find  this  guaranty  1" 

Mr.  Brengle.  "  I  don't  refer  to  any  section  in  particular,  but  to  the 
whole  instrument."  (Laughter.) 

Mr.  Giddings.  "  Well,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  finally  chased  this 
notable  guaranty  into  the  region  of  southern  abstractions  ;  but,  I 
declare,  I  never  came  so  near  finding  it  before.  (A  laugh.)  But  the 
gentleman  is  entirely  mistaken  when  he  supposes  that  the  convention 
which  framed  the  Constitution  regarded  slaves  as  property.  That 
instrument,  in  every  instance  in  which  it  refers  to  slaves,  characterizes 
them  as  'persons,'  and  not  as  property." 

Mr.  Belser  was  a  young  member,  and  appeared  somewhat  mortified  at 
having  advanced  doctrines  for  which  he  could  give  no  authority.  But 
other  southern  members  appeared  to  expect  that  the  author  would  not 
act  with  the  whig  party,  and  they  appeared  desirous  of  hastening  a  sepa 
ration  between  him  and  that  organization.  In  a  subsequent  part  of  the 
same  speech  the  following  extract  may  be  found  : 

"  Mr.  Belser,  of  Alabama,  said  he  desired  to  put  a  question  to  the  gen- 
man  from  Ohio. 

"  Mr.  Giddings.  '  My  time  is  fast  spending,  but  if  the  gentleman  will 
be  brief  I  will  hear  him.' 

"  Mr.  Belser.  '  I  wish  to  inquire  if  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  will 
vote  for  a  slaveholder  at  the  coming  presidential  election.' 

"  Mr.  Giddings.  '  I  should  be  led  to  think  from  the  question  that 
the  gentleman  propounding  it  would  not  vote  for  a  man  who  is  opposed 
to  slavery.  I  have  stated,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  your  rights  and  mine 
were  perfectly  mutual.  The  great  and  leading  feature  of  our  national 
compact  is  a  perfect  reciprocity  of  political  rights  among  the  several 
States.  ...  I  verily  believe  that  Mr.  Clay  will  administer  the 
government  (if  elected)  with  a  strict  regard  to  the  constitutional  rights 
of  all  the  States.  This  he  stands  pledged  to  do  ;  and  a  long  life  of 
public  service  has  given  me  and  the  public  satisfactory  evidence  that  he 
will  wipe  out  the  foul  disgrace  already  brought  upon  our  national  cha 
racter  by  attempting  to  make  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  subjects  cf 
national  support.' " 

In  a  subsequent  portion  of  the  speech  reference  was  made  to  Mr.  Cal- 
houn's  letter  to  Mr.  Packenham  as  follows  : 

"  I  am  anxious  to  say  a  word  in  relation  to  the  correspondence 
between  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the  British  Minister  resident  in  this 
city.  I  refer  particularly  to  the  letter  of  Mr.  Calhoun  to  Mr.  Packen 
ham,  dated  on  the  18th  of  last  month;  and,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  feel  humbled, 


230  CONFLICTING   VIEWS. 

as  an  American  citizen,  when  compelled  to  speak  of  that  letter,  in  which 
the  Government  and  people  of  this  nation  are  represented  as  solicitous 
to  continue  slavery  in  Texas,  and  to  oppose  the  progress  of  freedom  in 
that  government.  Sir,  for  himself,  and  for  the  Executive,  he  was  autho 
rized  to  speak  ;  but  for  the  Government,  at  least  for  the  legislative  branch 
of  it,  he  was  not  authorized  to  speak.  Sir,  the  representation  that  this 
legislative  body  was  desirous  of  opposing  the  progress  of  civil  liberty  I 
believe  to  be  unfounded  and  untrue.  For  myself,  as  one  of  the  members 
of  this  branch,  I  declare  it  a  misrepresentation.  So  far  as  that  letter 
imputes  to  the  people  of  the  free  States  a  desire  to  oppose  the  progress 
of  human  rights,  and  to  extend  and  perpetuate  slavery  and  the  slave  trade, 
I  regard  it  as  a  base  slander  upon  northern  character. 

"  Mr.  Burt,  of  South  Carolina,  wished  to  interrupt  the  gentleman  from 
Ohio. 

"  Mr.  Giddings.  '  I  have  but  a  minute  or  two  left,  and  I  want  to  say 
many  things.7 

"  Mr.  Burt.  '  I  want  to  know  if  the  member  from  Ohio  meant  to  say 
that  the  Secretary  of  State  has  done,  or  is  capable  of  doing,  anything 
base  ?> 

"  Mr.  Giddings.     '  I  am  a  little  surprised  at  that  question/ 

"  Mr.  Burt  (much  excited).     '  That  was  your  language/ 

"  Mr.  Giddings.  '  Mr.  Chairman,  I  hardly  know  how  to  understand 
this  southern  dialect.' 

"  Mr.  Burt  (amid  cries  of  Order,  and  the  rapping  of  the  chairman's 
gavel).  '  Do  you  understand  your  own  language  ?' 

"  Mr.  Giddings.  '  If  gentlemen  will  keep  cool  until  I  get  through, 
I  will  then  answer  all  the  questions  they  may  propound  to  me.  I  had 
remarked,  sir,  that  so  far  as  the  letter  in  question  imputes  to  the  people 
of  the  free  States  a  desire  to  maintain  a  traffic  in  humam  flesh,  and  the 
curse  of  slavery,  so  far  I  regarded  it  a  base  slander  upon  the  northern  cha 
racter  ;  and  I  would  repeat  the  idea  in  more  forcible  language  if  I  could 
command  it.  I  deny  that  any  such  feeling  exists  north  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line,  and  I  characterized  the  assertion  as  basely  slanderous.7 " 

These  are  given  as  specimens  of  the  spirit  in  which  the  debates  of 
that  day  were  carried  on. 

A  distinctive  feature  in  the*  policy  of  the  slave  power  consisted  in 
maintaining  that  whatever  Congress  had  done  might  be  done  again  with 
propriety.  In  short,  the  devotees  of  slavery  insisted  that  the  past  action 
of  Congress  constituted  precedents  binding  upon  statesmen  and 
1844'-J  people  of  that  day.  To  this  it  was  replied  that  northern  states 
men  had  surrendered  northern  rights  and  northern  honor  at  the  dictation 


231 

of  southern  men.  For  this,  the  statesmen  who  had  done  it,  were 
responsible.  They  admitted  that  Mr.  Calhoun  had,  in  1840,  intro 
duced  resolutions  into  the  Senate  revolting  to  humanity  ;  that  northern 
Whigs  dared  not  vote  for  them  ;  that  they  were  destitute  of  that  manly 
independence  which  should  have  stimulated  them  to  resistance.  But 
who  would  now  admit  that  northern  statesmen  or  people  were 
bound  to  involve  themselves  in  the  damning  iniquity  of  maintaining  a 
commerce  in  human  flesh  ?  The  men  who  committed  that  outrage  were 
responsible  for  their  action,  while  those  of  the  present  day  must  act  for 
themselves,  and  are  alone  accountable  for  their  own  conduct.  The  idea 
that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  had  authority  to  compel  men  of 
that  or  a  subsequent  generation  to  support  a  traffic  in  "  God's  image" 
— to  murder  or  enslave  colored  men,  was  abhorrent  to  every  principle 
of  Christianity.  That  the  framers  of  our  Government  had  declared  its 
object  was  to  secure  all  our  people,  black  and  white,  in  the  enjoyment  of 
life  and  liberty  :  That  neither  God  nor  mankind  had  given  to  any 
government  legitimate  authority  to  invade  these  rights  of  men  to  life, 
or  to  that  liberty  which  was  necessary  to  sustain  life. 

Mr.  Clay  was  desirous  of  obtaining  the  nomination  of  the  whig  party 
for  President.  With  that  view  he  spent  the  winter  of  1843-' 4  in  New 
Orleans.  On  his  way  to  Washington,  in  April,  he  made  a  speech  at 
Raleigji,  North  Carolina,  at  the  close  of  which  he  stated  a  synopsis  of 
what  he  regarded  Whig  faith  ;  by  the  9th  article  of  which  he  declared  it 
to  be  "  the,  duty  of  each  State  to  sustain  its  own  domestic  institutions" 

Thus  Mr.  Clay  in  few  words  expressed  the  precise  doctrine  for  which 
the  anti-slavery  men  were  contending.  It  was  plain  that  if  South  Caro 
lina  were  bound  to  sustain  her  own  slavery  she  could  have  no  claim  upon 
the  Federal  Government  to  do  it.  He  soon  came  on  to  Washington, 
and  to  northern  and  southern  men  he  asserted  that  the  doctrines  avowed 
in  the  essays  signed  "  Pacificus,"  written  by  the  author  and  published  in 
1842,  contained  the  correct  doctrines  on  which  the  Government  had  been 
founded.  This  avowal,  in  bold  and  direct  language,  was  indeed  more  than 
anti-slavery  men  had  expected.  On  this  account,  leading  friends  of  liberty 
avowed  their  confidence,  in  Mr.  Clay,  and  desired  his  election. 

The  people  of  Kentucky  caused  another  edition  of  his  speech  at  Raleigh 
to  be  printed,  leaving  out  the  synopsis  of  Whig  faith.  With  this  his 
anti-slavery  friends  at  the  North  were  dissatisfied.  The  author  wrote 
Mr.  Clay  on  the  subject,  and  in  due  course  of  mail  received  a  letter  from 
that  distinguished  gentleman,  declaring  that  the  edition  of  his  speech 
published  at  Lexington  had  been  brought  out  without  his  knowledge  or 
consent  j  but  the  doctrine  which  he  had  asserted  was  correct,  and  he 


232  DEFEAT   OF  ME.   CLAY. 

would  soon  find  an  opportunity  of  reiterating  it.  Accordingly,  on  the 
2d  September,  the  "  Lexington  Observer  "  contained  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Clay,  in  which  that  gentleman  asserted,  in  nervous  language,  that  "  the. 
maintenance,  the  continuance,  the  existence  of  slavery  depends  exclusively 
upon  the  power  and  authority  of  the  States  in  which  it  exists." 

No  issue  could  have  been  more  direct  and  obvious  than  that  formed 
by  this  letter,  and  the  resolutions  adopted  in  the  Senate,  on  motion  of 
Mr.  Calhoun,  in  1840.  This  exclusion  of  the  free  States  and  the  Federal 
Government  from  the  support  of  slavery  was  the  very  object  for  which 
Mr.  Adams  and  the  author  had  so  long  labored  and  striven. 

But  when  southern  men  called  on  Mr.  Clay  to  avow  his  sentiments  in 
regard  to  the  annexation  of  Texas,  he  answered  so  evasively,  and  mani 
fested  so  little  opposition  to  that  outrage,  that  anti-slavery  men  abandoned 
him  in  such  numbers  as  to  occasion  his  defeat  rather  than  incur  the 
responsibility  of  supporting  him. 


THE   ADMISSION   OF  TEXAS   PROPOSED.  233 


CHAPTER  XY. 

ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS — SLAVEHOLDING  VULGARITY  IN  CONGRESS — POWERS 
OF  A  REPUBLICAN  GOVERNMENT  TO  ENSLAVE  INNOCENT  PERSONS 
ASSERTED. 

AT  the  reassembling  of  the  twenty-eighth  Congress  for  its 
second  and  closing  session,  slaveholdiug  members  and  those  who 
sympathized  with  them  appeared  perfectly  confident  that  the  democratic 
party  would  resume  permanent  possession  of  the  government  on  the  4th 
of  March  following,  when  Mr.  Polk  should  enter  upon  his  executive 
duties. 

Joint  resolutions  were  introduced  hi  both  Houses  at  an  early  day, 
proposing  the  admission  of  Texas  as  a  State  to  the  American  Union. 
Conscious  that  it  had  become  a  party  measure,  a  committee  was  ap 
pointed  by  a  whig  caucus,  to  ascertain  the  views  of  each  member  and 
make  report  at  a  subsequent  meeting.  The  committee  reported  that  a 
majority  of  more  than  thirty  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
avowed  their  determination  to  oppose  the  annexation  by  all  the  legitimate 
means  in  their  power.  But  members  of  experience  declared,  they  had 
no  confidence  in  those  Democrats  who  professed  opposition  to  any  measure 
favored  by  a  democratic  President. 

As  the  debate  on  the  resolutions  continued,  members  who  had 
declared  their  opposition  to  the  measure  began  to  falter,  and 
soon  as  the  President  elect  reached  the  city  preparatory  to  assuming 
official  duties,  the  change  of  opinion  became  obvious,  and  before  the 
vote  was  taken  it  was  well  understood  that  a  large  majority  were  in 
favor  of  the  measure. 

Of  the  several  propositions  offered  for  annexation,  that  presented  by 
Hon.  Milton  Brown,  of  Tennessee,  was  adopted,  sent  to  the  Senate, 
where  it  was  amended  and  returned  to  the  House,  asking  concurrence  in 
the  amendment. 

On  the  28th  February  the  vote  was  taken,  and  showed  that  132 
members  were  in  favor,  and  16  against  the  bill  as  it  came  from  the 
Senate,  and  it  became  a  law.  The  members  from  the  several  States 
voted  as  follows  : 

MAINE.     Yea— Messrs.  Dunlap,  White,  Hamlin  and  Gary       .     .     4 
Nay — Messrs.  Morse  and  Severance 2 


234  THE   VOTE   ON  ANNEXING   TEXAS. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.     Yea — Messrs.  Burke,  Norris,  and  Redding     c    -3 
Nay— Mr.  Hale 1 

MASSACHUSETTS.     Yea — Messrs.  Parmenter  and  Williams   ...     2 
Nay— Messrs.  Adams,  Winthrop,  King,  Abbot,  Hudson, 

Baker,  Rockwell,  and  Grinnell 8 

RHODE  ISLAND.     Nay — Messrs.  Cranston   and  Potter     ....     2 
CONNECTICUT.      Yea — Messrs.    Seymour,    CatKn,    Stewart,   and 

Simons 4 

YERMONT.     Nay — Messrs.  Collamer,  Foot,  and  Marsh    ....     3 

Not  voting — Mr.  Dillinghani. 

NEW  YORK.  Yea — Messrs.  Strong,  Murphy,  Maclay,  Leonard, 
Anderson,  Russell,  Seymour,  Pratt,  Ellis,  Stetson,  Ben- 
ton,  Hungerford,  Carpenter,  Carey,  Purdy,  Robinson, 

Wheaton,  Rathbun,  Dana,  and  Hubbell 20 

Nay — Messrs.  Phoenix,   Davis,  Barnard,  Rogers,   King, 
Green,    Patterson,    Carrol,  Tyler,  Merely,   Smith,  and 

Hunt       12 

NEW  JERSEY.     Yea — Messrs.  Sykes,  Farlee,  and  Kirkpatrick  .     .     3 

Nay — Mr.  Wright 1 

Not  voting — Mr.  Elmer. 
PENNSYLVANIA.   Yea — Messrs.  Smith,  C.  I.  Ingersoll,  Yost,  Ritter, 

Brodliead,    Bidlach,  Fuller,  Black,  Foster,  and  Hayes     10 
Nay — Messrs.  Morris,  Jenks,  Mcllvain,  Brown,  Pollock, 
Ramsey,  Irwin,  Stewart,  Dickey,    Darragh,  Reed  and 

Buffington 12 

Not  voting — Messrs.  J.  R.  Ingersoll,  and  Ness    ....     2 
DELAWARE.     Not  voting — Mr.  Rodney. 

MARYLAND.  Nay — Messrs.  Causine,  Brengle,  Wethered,  Ken 
nedy,  Preston,  Lucas,  and  Spence 7 

VIRGINIA.     Yea — Messrs.  Atkinson,  Dromgole,  Coles,  Hubbard, 

Bayley,  Taylor,  Chapman,  Hopkins,  Steinrod,  and  Lucas   10 
Nay — Messrs.  Goggin,  Newton,  Chilton,  and  Summers      .     4 
NORTH  CAROLINA.    Yea — Messrs.  Reid,  Saunders,  McKay,  Daniel, 

and  Arrington 5 

Nay — Messrs.  Barringer,  Clingman,  Deberry,  and  Rayuor      4 
TENNESSEE.     Yea — Messrs.   Andrew  Johnson,    Cave    Johnson, 
Senter,  Blackwell,  Cullom,  Jones,  A.  Y.  Brown,  and 

Dickinson 8 

Nay — Messrs.  MiltOn  Brown,  Ash,  and  Peyton  ....     3 
KENTUCKY.     Yea — Messrs.  Boyd,  Caldwell,  French,  Tibbatts,  and 

Stone  5 


CONTEMPLATED   EESULTS   OF  ANNEXATION.  235 

Nay — Messrs.  Green,  Grider,  Davis,  and  White     ...     4 

Not  voting — Mr.  Thomason 1 

OHIO.     Yea — Messrs.  Duncan,  Weller,  Potter,    St.   John,    Mc- 
Dowal,  Brinkerhoof,  Morris,,  McCauslin,  Mathews,  and 

Dean .10 

Nay — Messrs.  Schenck,  Yance,  Vanmeter,  Yinton,  John 
son,  Tilden,  Giddings,  Hamlin,  Florence,  and  Harper    .  10 
INDIANA.     Yea — Messrs.  Owen,  Henley,  Thomas  Smith,  Brown, 

Davis,  Wright,  Petit,  and  Kennedy .8 

Nay — Messrs.  Caleb  B.  Smith  and  Sample 2 

ILLINOIS.     Yea — Messrs.  McClernand,  Smith,  Ficklin,  Wentworth, 

Douglas,  and  Hogue .6 

Nay — Mr.  Harden .     1 

The  following  States  voted  unanimously  for  annexation,  to  wit :  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Arkansas,  Louisiana  and 
Michigan. 

It  was  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  when  the  final  vote  was  taken. 
No  sooner  had  the  Speaker  announced  the  result  than  cannon  upon 
the  terrace  west  of  the  Capitol  sounded  forth  the  triumph  :  Imme 
diately  bonfires  lighted  up  the  city,  and  the  sound  of  revelry  and 
drunkenness  was  heard  and  seen  in'  its  various  localities.  Northern 
Democrats  and  southern  slaveholders  rejoiced  at  a  result  which  they 
believed  would  place  them  in  undisputed  control  of  the  government. 
Members  from  the  slaveholding  States  were  rejoicing  in  the  anticipated 
profits  which  they  expected  to  reap  from  the  increased  price  of 
human  flesh. 

Pensively  and  alone  the  writer  walked  to  his  lodgings.  Never  before 
had  he  viewed  his  country  as  he  then  saw  it.  The  exultation  of  slave- 
breeders  and  slavedealers,  at  thus  controlling  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  constituted  a  spectacle  that  he  had  not  expected  to  witness. 
The  barbarous  war,  the  bloodshed,  the  devastation,  the  corruptions,  the 
civil  war,  which  resulted  from  this  triumph  of  the  slave  power,  were  at 
no  subsequent  period  of  his  life  more  vividly  before  his  mind  than  they 
were  that  evening,  while  alone  in  his  room,  contemplating  the  results 
that  would  naturally  follow  the  action  of  Congress  on  that  sad  day. 

The  subject  had  occupied  much  time  in  the  Senate,  but  the  joint 
resolution,  as  it  finally  passed  the  House  of  Representatives,  was  adopted 
by  vote  of  21  to  25.  The  following  Senators  from  the  free  States  voting 
in  the  affirmative,  to  wit :  Messrs.  Fairfield,  of  Maine  ;  Atherton  and 
Woodbury,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Niles,  of  Connecticut ;  Dickinson,  of 
New  York  ;  Buchanan  and  Sturgeon,  of  Pennsylvania ;  Allen  and 


236  MEMBERS  ABANDON  THE  PARTY. 

Tappan,  of  Ohio  ;  Hannigan,  of  Indiana  ;  Sample  and  Breese,  of  Illinois. 
While  Messrs.  Archer  and  Rives,  of  Virginia  ;  Bayard  and  Clayton,  of 
Delaware  ;  Berrien,  of  Georgia  ;  Crittenden  and  Morehead,  of  Kentucky; 
Pearce,  of  Maryland,  and  Mangum,  of  North  Carolina,  voted  in  the 
negative. 

It  had  been  expected  that  no  Whig  would  vote  for  the  measure,  and 
that  many  Democrats  would  vote  against  it.  But  this  expectation  failed  ; 
some  Whigs  voted  for,  and  some  Democrats  against  it ;  but  the  result 
approximated  very  closely  to  a  strict  party  division. 

The  demand,  however,  thus  made  by  the  slave  power  upon  its 
"  northern  allies  "  was  too  great.  Many  leading  members  of  the  demo 
cratic  party  could  not  reconcile  their  judgments,  or  consciences,  to  the 
measure.  Having  voted  for  the  annexation  of  Texas,  they  refused  to  go 
farther,  and  after  some  little  hesitation  abandoned  the  party  forever*  : 
and  this  measure,  which  the  leaders  of  the  democratic  party  had  supposed 
ordained  unto  life,  they  found  directly  tending  to  political  death  ;  and 
many  servile  politicians  who  sought  to  save  their  lives  by  thus  subserving 
the  interest  of  slavery,  lost  their  political  existence. 

Early  in  the  session,  Mr.  Adams  gave  notice  of  his  intention  to  move 
a  recision  of  the  twenty-first  rule  of  the  House.  For  ten  years  he  had 
striven  against  this  plain  violation  of  the  people's  rights.  Ably  and 
persistently  he  maintained  an  open  and  undisguised  warfare  upon  this 


*  Of  those  referred  to  in  the  text  Hon.  Jacob  Brinkerhoof,  of  Ohio,  was  an  example.  He  was 
opposed  to  the  measure  from  the  first ;  but  from  the  solicitude  of  friends,  was  prevailed  upon  to  vote 
for  concurring  in  the  Senate's  amendment.  With  this  he  appeared  dissatisfied,  returned  home,  and 
declined  further  action  with  the  party,  and  at  the  formation  of  the  republican  organization  consti 
tuted  one  of  its  active  members,  was  elected  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  his  State,  where  he 
acquired  reputation  as  an  able  jurist,  and  at  the  time  of  writing  this  note,  in  1862,  he  was  em 
ployed  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  that  honorable  position. 

Hon.  John  P.  Hale  was  a  democratic  representative  from  the  State  of  New  Hampshire,  a  State 
more  devoted  to  the  interests  of  slavery  than  any  other  of  the  North.  He  had  been  nominated  at  a 
State  Convention  for  a  reelection  to  Congress  :  but  the  same  Convention  adopted  resolutions  in 
favor  of  annexing  Texas  to  the  Union.  Mr.  Hale  declined  the  nomination,  voted  against  the  annexa 
tion  of  Texas,  returned  to  New  Hampshire,  appealed  to  the  people  of  that  State  to  maintain  their 
right  to  be  exempt  from  the  expense,  the  disgrace  and  crime  of  supporting  slavery  and  the  slave 
trade,  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  that  State,  was  made  Speaker  of  that  body, 
then  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  ;  and  in  the  short  space  of  two  years  New  Hampshire 
inscribed  her  name  on  the  roll  of  free  States,  and  up  to  the  time  of  writing  this  note  she  has 
maintained  the  position  thus  assumed  :  and  Hale  is  still  one  of  her  representatives  in  the  most 
august  legislative  body  of  the  world. 

Hon.  Preston  King,  of  New  York,  had  been  a  Democrat  up  to  the  consummation  of  the  Texas 
outrage.  From  that  time  he  acted  for  freedom,  calmly,  firmly,  and  steadily.  He  was  several  times 
reflected  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  thence  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  where  he 
now,  at  the  time  of  writing  this  note,  is  doing  honor  to  the  cause  for  which  he  has  so  long  labored, 
and  to  the  State  which  has  honored  him  with  her  confidence. 

But  many  other  citizens  of  distinction  in  the  free  States,  who  had  long  been  members  of  the  demo 
cratic  party,  abandoned  it  at  the  passage  of  the  joint  resolutions  for  admitting  Texas. 


GAG-RTTLE   RESCINDED.  237 

infraction  of  the  Constitution.  In  doing  this  he  had  bared  his  breast  to 
the  shafts  of  calumny.  For  ten  years  the  storm  of  slayeholding  persecu 
tion  had  raged  around  him.  Slaveholders  and  Democrats  had  railed 
against  him  in  vain  :  the  day  of  his  triumph  had  now  fully  come.  His 
motion  to  strike  that  disgraceful  rule  from  the  manual  was  sustained  by 
a  vote  of  108  to  80. 

Of  the  host  of  members  whom  he  often  characterized  as  "  the  Swiss- 
guards  of  slavery,  fighting  for  pay,"  only  the  following  now  voted  against 
rescinding  the  rule,  to  wit  : 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  Messrs.  Redding,  Norris,  and  Burke,    ....     3 

NEW  YORK.     .     .  "        Murphy  and  King,     ..".....     2 

PENNSYLVANIA.    .         "        C.  I.  Ingersoll  and  Smith, 2 

OHIO "        Matthews  and  Stone, .2 

INDIANA.     ...         "        Brown  and  Davis, 2 

ILLLINOIS.  ...  "        Smith,  Eicklin,  and  Hogue,     ....     3 

being  fourteen  in  all  the  free  States.  Messrs.  Clingman  and  Deberry,  of 
North  Oarolina  ;  Wethersed,  of  Maryland  ;  and  White,  of  Kentucky, 
voted  for  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  rule. 

Mr.  Adams  had  devoted  his  energies  to  the  maintenance  of  [184g 
the  right  of  petition,  the  author  had  labored  to  restore  the  free 
dom  of  debate  :  and  the  restoration  of  these  rights  constituted  the  first 
surrender  of  the  democratic  party,  to  the  popular  feeling  of  the  north 
ern  States  ;  and,  in  that  point  of  view,  marked  an  era  in  "  the  regime  of 
slavery."  Yet  it  should  be  borne  in 'mind,  that  while  the  House  of 
Representatives  thus  ostensibly  gave  back  to  the  people  their  constitu 
tional  right  of  petition,  they  had  recourse  to  an  expediency  even  more 
dishonorable.  Annually,  when  the  Speaker  arranged  the  committees, 
he,  was  careful  to  place  a  majority  of  pro-slavery  members  on  each, 
so  that  petitions,  in  regard  to  "  the  peculiar  institution,"  sent  to  them, 
were  retained  in  silence  until  the  close  of  the  session,  when  they  were 
entombed  in  the  archives  of  the  House,  from  which  there  was  no  resur 
rection  . 

But  although  there  was  no  longer  any  rule  of  the  House  restricting 
debate  or  the  right  of  petition,  in  regard  to  slavery,  there  was  a  very 
general  effort  among  slaveholders  and  northern  pro-slavery  members  of 
both  the  whig  and  democratic  parties  to  render  the  exercise  of  these 
rights  odious,  by  stigmatizing  those  who  practised  them  as  "agitators," 
"abolitionists,"  and  the  use  of  other  unmeaning  epithets. 

To  expose  these  efforts,  the  writer  often  referred  to  some  disgraceful 
circumstance  connected  with  slavery,  whenever  he  spoke  of  the  institu- 


238  SLAVEHOLDING   KIBALDKT. 

tion  ;  and  thus,  while  its  supporters  were  assailing  him  personally,  he 
endeavored  to  exhibit  to  the  public  view  the  barbarism  and  corruption 
which  they  were  seeking  to  hide  from  the  people. 

An  incident  occurred,  on  the  6th   February,   which  may  give  the 
reader  some  idea  of  the  spirit  manifested  on  this  subject. 

The   author  was   addressing  the   Committee  of  the  Whole  House, 
,on  the  bill  making  appropriations  to  carry  out  our  treaty  stipulations1 
with  the  Indian  tribes ;  and  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  the  corrup-, 
tion,  the  base  purposes  of  the  treaty  of  "  Indian  Spring,"  he  referred: 
to  historical  facts  with  which  the  reader  was  made  acquainted  in  a  for- 1 
mer  chapter,  in  regard  to  the  claim 'of  certain  slaveholders  of  Georgia, 
who,  after  receiving  one  hundred  and  nine  thousand  dollars  as  a  compen 
sation  for  their  fugitive  slaves,  demanded  one  hundred  and  forty- one 
thousand  more  as  a  compensation  for  the,  offspring,  which  the.  females  would 
have  borne  to  their  masters,  had  they  remained  in  bondage.     And,  he  add 
ed,  Congress  actually  paid,  mostly  from  the  pockets  of  northern  laborers, 
that  large  sum,  as  a  compensation  for  children  who  were  never  born,  but 
who  might  have  been,  if  their  parents  had  REMAINED  FAITHFUL  SLAVES. 
1845  ]          ^ne  remark  called  forth  some  laughter,  which  appeared  to  irri 
tate  members  from  the  South,  who  began  to  manifest  great  in 
dignation.      Mr.  Giddings  at  once   began  to  make  a  mock  apology, 
expressing  regret  that  these  things  existed  ;  but  as  they  did  exist,  it  be 
came  his  duty  to  make  them  known,  while  he  had  no  word  of  censure 
for  those  who  sought  to  erase  these  transactions  from  the  historic  record. 

Mr.  Black,  of  Georgia,  obtained  the  floor  to  reply,  and  was  immediate 
ly  surrounded  by  southern  members.  His  vulgar  abuse  was  so  gross,  so 
obscene,  that  no  reporter  attempted  to  repeat  his  language.  Nor  did 
they  even  refer  to  some  of  his  prominent  ideas.  Much  less  can  the  his 
torian  place  them  on  record,  at  this  day.  Mr.  Black  has  been  called  to 
his  final  account ;  most  of  those  who  stood  around,  encouraged  and 
prompted  him  on  that  occasion,  are  no  longer  inhabitants  of  earth. 
During  the  seventeen  years  that  have  passed  since  that  day,  the  storms 
of  life  have  beaten  severely  upon  him  who  pens  these  pages  ;  yet,  duty 
to  all,  require  that  some  of  the  leading  points  of  Mr.  Black's  speech 
should  be  stated. 

He  referred  to  the  insinuations,  that  Mr.  Giddings  was  interested  in 
the  horses  and  team  which  one  Torry  lost  when  attempting  to  aid  negroes 
to  escape  ;  said  that  Torry  had  Hied  in  the  penitentiary  ;  that  the  author 
ought  to  be  there  ;  that  if  the  House  could  decide  the  question,  he  would 
be  sent  there  at  once  ;  declared  that  Mr.  Giddings  had  violated  the  law 
by  franking  through  the  post-office  a  calico  dress,  to  his  wife,  for  which 


FORBEARANCE  REVENGED.  239 

he  ought  to  be  punished  ;  and  closed,  by  advising  him  to  return  to  his 
constituents,  and  ascertain  if  he  had  a  character  ? — for  he  asserted,  be 
fore  heaven,  he  had  none  in  that  hall. 

The  writer  felt  less  indignation  towards  Black,  than  towards  many  mem 
bers  of  higher  character  who  stood  around  him,  encouraging  him  in  his 
disgraceful  vulgarity,  and  laughing  at  his  obscenity.  It  is  due  to  the 
Democracy  of  the  free  States  to  say,  that  no  member  of  that  party, 
north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  appeared  to  participate  in  this  display 
of  slaveholding  ribaldry. 

The  writer  replied,  that  when  the  member  from  Alabama  (Mr. 
Payne)  had,  for  the  obvious  purpose  of  slander,  insinuated  that  he  was 
interested  in  the  horses  and  carriage  left  by  Torry,  he  said,  distinctly, 
that  all  he  had  ever  seen,  heard,  or  known  of  that  transaction,  was 
drawn  from  the  newspapers — but  that  had  been  said  for  the  benefit  of 
gentlemen,  of  men  who  understood  the  decencies,  the  ordinary  proprieties 
of  life,  and  not  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  member  from  Alabama,  or  of 
his  less  worthy  confrere  from  Georgia,  to  whom  he  owed  no  other  respect 
than  that  which  parliamentary  law  constrained  him  to  observe  ;  that 
what  he  alluded  to,  in  regard  to  the  franking  of  a  calico  dress,  the  author 
was  wholly  ignorant,  and  could  form  no  opinion,  and  could  say  nothing 
more  at  that  time  than  to  pronounce  it  an  unmitigated  falsehood ;  but 
if  any  fact  should  be  developed,  inculpating  any  member,  he  would 
bring  it  before  the  House — as  no  charge,  coining  from  one  holding  a 
seat  in  that  body,  was  unworthy  of  notice,  however  low,  vulgar,  or  ob 
scene  the  private  character  of  the  member  making  the  charge  might 
be.* 


*  Impressed  with  the  idea  that  Black  had  heard  something,  out  of  which  he  had  manufactured  the 
charge  of  f ranking  a  dress,  the  author,  that  evening,  addressed  a  note  to  the  Postmaster-General, 
Mr.  Wickliff,  of  Kentucky,  (now,  1862,  a  democratic  member  of  Congress,)  inquiring  if  he  had  any 
information  on  the  subject.  That  officer,  evidently  feeling  that  he  was  involved  in  Black's  ridiculous 
charge,  immediately  answered  the  author's  note,  saying  that  the  postmaster  at  Painesville,  Ohio,  had 
written  that  a  bundle,  apparently  a  lady's  dress,  had  passed  through  his  office ;  and  that  he,  Wick 
liff,  had  referred  to  this  letter  in  conversation,  and  would  at  once  call  on  the  postmaster  at  Painesville 
for  definite  information.  The  author  then  saw  that  the  slander  had  doubtless  been  brought  into 
existence  by  other  and  more  important  members  of  the  democratic  party,  and  he  awaited  the  denou- 
ment  with  much  curiosity. 

Some  ten  days  subsequently,  the  stately  form  of  the  Postmaster-General  was  seen  on  the  demo 
cratic  side  of  the  House,  mingling  with  members,  evidently  engaged  in  grave  consultation. 
Soon  after,  in  company  with  Hon.  Emery  D.  Potter,  of  Ohio,  another  member  of  the  democratic 
party,  he  came  across  the  hall,  and  the  two  gentlemen  being  seated  beside  the  author,  Mr.  Wickliff, 
with  unusual  gravity,  proceeded  to  say  that  he  had  received  a  letter  from  the  postmaster  at  Paines 
ville,  saying,  that  the  bundle  referred  to  in  his  former  letter,  "was  a  shawl  directed  to  Mrs.  Potter, 
franked  by  McNulty,  Clerk  of  the  House,  as  a  ''public  document^  and  attested  by  the  name  of 
Mr.  Potter."  That  as  he  was  desirous  that  no  feeling  between  the  author  and  Mr.  Potter  might 
arise,  he  had  come  personally,  with  that  gentleman,  to  make  known  the  facts.  The  gravity  with 
which  Wickliff  and  Potter  now  besought  the  author  to  say  no  more  on  the  subject,  the  more  than 


240  A   CONGRESSIONAL   BULLY   EXPOSED. 

1846  -j  The  author  stated  that  he  well  understood  the  feeling  which 
prompted  slaveholders  and  their  allies  to  do  all  in  their  power 
to  throw  around  congressional  and  Executive  action  in  favor  of 
slavery,  the  protection  of  perpetual  silence.  He  did  not  hold  the 
member  from  Georgia  so  much  responsible  for  his  conduct  as  he  did  the 
more  respectable  members  who  had  stood  around  him  while  speaking, 
and  had  prompted  the  display  of  that  brutal  coarseness  which  nothing 
but  the  moral  putridity  of  slavery  could  encourage.  That  so  far  as  he 
had  himself  referred  to  the  institution,  he  had  simply  repeated  historic 
truths,  authenticated  by  official  documents,  which  no  member  dared 
deny.  That  even  the  member  from  Georgia,  speaking  for  himself,  for 
those  around  him,  and  for  the  institution,  dared  not  deny  a  word  which 
the  author  had  asserted.  But  Mr.  Black  had  attempted  to  assail  him 
personally,  for  daring  to  utter  facts.  To  these  rude  assaults  he  would 
make  no  reply.  He  stood  on  that  floor,  before  the  country,  clothed  with 
the  confidence  of  an  intelligent  and  virtuous  constituency,  who,  but  a 
few  months  previously,  had  indorsed  his  character  by  a  fourth  election  ; 
while  his  assailant  had  been  discarded  after  one  election,  as  unworthy 
longer  to  fill  a  place  properly  assigned  to  honorable  men.  And 
now,  as  the  chills  of  political  dissolution  were  upon  him,  his  "  ruling 
passion  "  for  vulgarity  had  shown  itself  "  strong  in  death." 

The  author  had  a  few  moments  previously  observed  that  Black  was 
not  in  his  seat.  He  had  passed  through  the  lobby  behind  the  Speaker's 
chair  and  entered  the  small  aisle  on  the  author's  right,  where  he 
was  standing  unobserved  when  the  sentence  last  quoted  was  uttered. 
Black  was  unable  to  restrain  his  feelings,  and  raising  a  large  cane 
which  he  held  in  his  hand,  said,  "if  you  repeat  those  words  I  will 
knock  yoib  down."  The  author,  turning  his  eye  to  the  right,  saw  Black 
with  his  cane  raised,  evidently  under  the  excitement  of  extreme  anger, 
and,  unable  to  resist  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  repeated  the  language 
he  had  used  in  order  to  test  the  courage  of  Black,  which  he  greatly 
doulted.  He  continued  his  remarks,  while  some  of  Black's  friends,  seeing 
the  position  in  which  he  had  placed  himself,  removed  him  from  the  hall 
As  Black  was  being  passed  out  through  the  small  aisle  at  which  he 
entered,  the  author  continued  his  remarks  ;  and  Mr.  Dawson,  of  Louisi- 

ludicrous  combination  of  circumstances  which  now  brought  out  the  foolish  and  ridiculous  action  of 
the  democratic  Clerk,  the  democratic  Postmaster-General,  and  the  leaders  of  the  party  who  had 
encouraged  Black,  and  tacitly  indorsed  his  slander,  excited  laughter  in  the  author's  mind.  But 
Potter  was  sad.  He  was  an  inoffensive  man.  He  now  insisted  that  Black's  charge  would  not  affect 
the  author,  but  if  the  facts  were  published  they  would  ruin  him ;  and  he  was  desirous  that  the 
author  would  let  the  matter  drop,  and  say  no  more  about  it.  This  appeal  to  the  author's  better 
feelings  overcame  his  desire  to  expose  his  enemies,  and,  to  the  great  dissatisfaction  of  many  friends, 
he  refused  to  make  the  exposure. 


AN   AHMED   MOB   DISPERSED.  241 

ana,  who  assaulted  the  author  on  a  previous  occasion,  now  rose  from  his 
seat,  and,  coming  across  the  hall,  approached  within  some  four  or  five 
yards  of  the  author,  and  placing  his  hand  in  his  pocket  said,  "  I'll  shoot 
him,  by  G-d,  I'll  shoot  him,"  at  the  same  time  taking  care  to  cock  his 
pistol  so  as  to  have  the  click  heard  by  those  around  him.  Instantly, 
Mr.  Causine,  of  Maryland,  a  Whig,  rose  and  taking  position  in  the  small 
aisle  in  front  of  the  author  and  directly  between  him  and  Dawson,  folded 
his  arms  across  his  breast  with  his  right  hand  apparently  resting  upon 
the  handle  of  his  weapon,  which  was  supposed  to  be  concealed  in  his 
bosom ;  at  the  same  moment  Mr.  Slidell,  of  Louisiana,  Mr.  Stiles,  of 
Georgia,  and  two  other  members  on  the  democratic  side  of  the  hall  rose, 
and  walked  across  the  open  area  in  front  of  the  Speaker's  chair  and  took 
their  positions  near  Mr.  Dawson,  each  man  putting  his  hand  in  his  pocket 
as  he  was  coming  across  the  hall,  apparently  for  the  purpose  of  adjusting 
his  weapon.* 

At  the  same  moment  Kenneth,  Raynor,  of  North  Carolina,  a  Whig,f 
and  fully  armed,  left  his  seat  and  took  position  on  the  author's  left. 
Mr.  Hudson,  of  Massachusetts,  came  and  quietly  took  position  on  the 
author's  right,  and  Mr.  Foote,  of  Yermont,  placed  himself  at  the 
entrance  of  the  aisle  through  which  Black  had  made  his  exit.  It  was 
with  armed  foes  in  front  and  friends  on  either  hand,  prepared  to  meet 
the  hostile  demonstration  which  for  a  time  appeared  imminent,  that  the 
author  continued  his  remarks.  One  by  one  the  slaveholders  hi  front 
began  to  feel  the  awkwardness  of  their  position,  and  quietly  returned  to 
their  seats.  Dawson,  however,  remained  standing  in  front,  while  Causine 
stood  firmly  facing  him  until  the  author  closed  his  speech.  Then  Daw- 
son  returned  to  the  democratic  side  of  the  house,  the  author's  friends 
resumed  their  several  positions,  and  the  business  of  legislation  pro 
ceeded  as  usual. 

This  was  the  last  effort  to  silence  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  by  threats  of  personal  violence  made  during  the 
author's  service  in  Congress. 

A  private  claim  of  somewhat  extraordinary  character  demanded  the 
attention  of  Congress  during  this  closing  session  of  the  twenty-eighth 
Congress.  In  1836,  soon  after  General  Jessup  assumed  command  of  our 
army  in  Florida,  he  entered  into  a  written  contract  with  certain  chiefs 
and  warriors  of  the  Creek  tribe  of  Indians,  by  which  they  agreed  to 

*  At  the  time  of  penning  this  note  (1862)  Mr.  SlidelHs  the  agent  of  the  Confederate  States,  sent  to 
France  in  order  to  obtain  a  recognition  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 

t  Mr.  Raynor  possessed  a  high  order  of  talent,  was  sincere  in  his  friendship,  somewhat  impulsive, 
but  honest.  It  is  with  pain  that  the  writer  adds,  he  is  at  thia  time  (1SC2)  engaged  in  the  rebel 
arm/. 

16 


24:2  PRISONERS   OF   WAR   ENSLAVED. 

furnish  two  battalions  of  not  less  than  six  hundred  men  each,  to  serve  one 
year  against  the  Seminoles,  for  which  they  were  to  receive  ten  thousand 
dollars  and  such  plunder  as  they  might  capture  from  the  enemy.  Although 
the  law  had  provided  the  mode  of  enlisting  troops,  and  had  specifically 
determined  the  amount  to  be  paid  to  each  soldier,  yet  General  Jessup 
does  not  appear  to  have  supposed  that  he  was  violating  the  law  by 
entering  into  this  contract ;  indeed  the  contract  was  made  irrespective, 
and  in  direct  violation  of  the  law.  Yet  the  Executive  and  War  Depart 
ment  approved  the  act,  and  the  Creek  warriors  entered  upon  the  stipulated 
service.  The  Cherokees  refused  to  furnish  warriors  for  such  a  purpose, 
and  their  principal  chief,  John  Ross,  addressed  a  most  able  letter  to  the 
Hon.  Secretary  of  War,  solemnly  protesting  against  the  employment  of 
pagan  warriors  to  fight  the  battles  of  a  Christian  nation.  He  also  sent 
a  large  deputation  to  visit  the  Seminoles,  to  induce  them  to  make 
peace  without  further  bloodshed. 

During  the  year  these  Creek  warriors  captured  more  than  one  hundred 
negroes.  These  were  claimed  by  the  Indians  as  "plunder"  coming 
within  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  contract,  and  were  enslaved  by  their 
captors.  General  Jessup  and  the  Secretary  of  War  concurred  in  this 
construction  of '  the  contract ;  and  the  practice  of  enslaving  prisoners 
captured  in  war,  after  it  had  been  abandoned  by  all  Christian  nations  for 
at  least  two  centuries,  was  now  revived  by  the  American  Government 
under  the  administration  of  General  Jackson. 

But  provisions  being  scarce,  General  Jessup  published  an  order  direct 
ing  eight  thousand  dollars  to  be  paid  to  the  Indians  as  a  compensation 
for  these  enslaved  negroes,  whom  he  ordered  to  be  sent  to  Fort  Pike, 
below  New  Orleans,  declaring  them  to  be  the  property  of  the  Government. 
This  procedure  was  also  sanctioned  by  the  War  Department,  and  ap 
proved  by  the  Executive.  And  so  far  as  the  authority  of  the  President 
extended,  the  people  of  the  United  States  became  slave-purchasers  and 
slaveholders. 

After  these  things  had  transpired,  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs 
appears  to  have  entertained  some  misgivings,  and  in  an  official  communi 
cation  suggested  to  the  Secretary  of  War  that  in  'the  then  excited  state 
of  the  public  mind  it  was  doubtful  whether  Congress  might  not  hesitate 
in  appropriating  money  to  carry  out  this  arrangement.  He  does  not 
appear  to  have  doubted  the  propriety  of  enslaving  men  in  Florida  as 
well  as  on  the  African  coast ;  nor  does  he  appear  to  have  entertained 
doubts  as  to  the  ability  of  the  Creek  Indians,  aided  by  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  to  enslave  men  as  legally  and  with  as  much  pro 
priety  as  did  the  slavedealers  on  the  African  coast,  who  were  hanged 


ATTEMPTS  AT   DISREPUTABLE  EVASION.  24:3 

• 

for  crimes  precisely  similar  to  those  which  our  Government  was  perpe 
trating  in  Florida. 

In  the  whole  of  these  transactions  there  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
any  doubts  entertained  as  to  the  constitutional  authority  of  the  Execu 
tive,  nor  as  to  his  moral  right  to  enslave  men  ;  but  the  slave  power  feared 
that  abolitionists  would  deny  such  authority,  and  might  criticise  the 
right  of  the  Government  to  enslave  innocent  men  and  women. 

While  these  questions  .were  under  consideration,  a  rich  slave-  ,1845 
dealer  from  Georgia,  James  C.  "Watson,  happened  to  be  in 
Washington.  To  him  the  whole  subject  was  explained,  and  a  proposition 
was  made  for  him  to  take  these  negroes,  receive  a  bill  of  sale  from  the 
Creek  Indians,  to  whom  he  should  pay  fifteen  thousand  dollars  ;  and  as 
the  negroes  were  held  by  officers  of  the  American  army,  the  Secretary 
of  War  should  issue  an  order  to  such  officer  as  might  have  them  in  charge, 
directing  their  delivery  to  the  slavedealer  or  his  agent.  There  was  no 
documentary  evidence  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  United  States 
obtained  the»  eight  thousand  dollars  which  General  Jessup  paid  to  the 
Indians.  It  is  presumed,  however,  that  the  Indians  repaid  it  from  the 
money  received  of  Watson. 

But  our  military  officers  refused  to  respect  the  order  of  the  Secretary 
of  War.  General  Taylor  positively  refused  to  interfere  in  the  mat 
ter  ;  and  many  other  officers,  among  whom  was  the  distinguished 
General  Gaines,  actuated  by  feelings  of  humanity,  put  forth  great 
efforts  to  keep  the  negroes  from  the  agent  of  Watson,  who  after 
encountering  many  difficulties  and  disappointments  and  incurring  much 
expense,  returned  without  obtaining  any  of  the  negroes  :  and  Watson, 
having  paid  out  his  money  at  the  request  of  our  public  officers,  now  sent 
his  petition  to  Congress,  asking  that  his  money,  interest  and  expenses  be 
refunded  by  Government  ? 

The  petition  was  presented  by  Mr.  Dawson,  of  Georgia,  and  was  re 
ferred  to  the  Committee  of  Claims,  but  learning  that  the  author,  then  a 
member  of  that  committee,  would  oppose  the  claim,  he  requested  that 
no  report  be  made  upon  it. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  twenty-eighth  Congress,  the  author 
having  lost  the  confidence  of  slaveholders,  was  no  longer  permitted  to 
preside  over  the  Committee  of  Claims.  •  ; 

Ex-Governor  Yance,  of  Ohio,  was  made  chairman.  He  had  never  served 
on  the  committee,  and  was  compelled  to  learn  his  own  duties  from  his 
colleagues,  who  were  older  in  service.  But  this  claim  was  cherished  by 
the  democratic  party,  and  to  render  its  passage  safe,  Hon.  Howell 
Cobb,  of  Georgia,  was  placed  on  the  Committee,  being  one  of  the 


M4  BLAVEDEALING    EXPOSED. 

most  influential  members  from  the  South,  and  this  claim  was  consigned 
to  his  care.*  Early  in  the  first  session  of  the  twenty-eighth  Congress 
Mr.  Cobb  reported  a  bill  to  compensate  Watson  for  the  failure  of  his 
speculation. 

Soon  as  the  bill  was  printed,  the  author  called  on  several  Whig 
speakers  and  invited  their  attention  to  it,  assuring  them  that  the  demo 
cratic  party  had  never  engaged  in  a  subject  which  reflected  greater  dis 
grace  upon  its  members,  nor  had  they  assumed  the  support  of  any  mea 
sure  more  odious  :  But  these  leaders  of  the  whig  party,  though  anxious 
to  involve  their  opponents  in  disgrace,  lacked  the  moral  courage  to  effect 
that  object  by  appealing  to  arguments  in  favor  of  freedom. 

The  writer  was  detained  from  attendance  on  the  sessions  of 
the  House  on  one  of  the  days  devoted  to  private  bills,  when  Mr- 
Cobb  proposed  to  take  up  this  claim  of  Watson  out  of  order.  Mr.  Ad 
ams  objected.  Mr.  Cobb  declared  there  could  be  no  reasonable  objec 
tion  to  it,  and  the  claimant  was  kept  out  of  the  use  of  his  money  because 
the  bill  could  not  be  brought  before  the  House  for  action  :  But  the 
House  refused  to  take  it  up. 

At  length  it  came  before  the  House  in  due  order  of  business,  and  the 
author  stated  his  objections  to  its  passage  ;  he  defined  the  limitation  of 
the  powers  possessed  by  human  governments  ;  asserting  that  the  laws 
of  nature,  or  the  will  of  God,  had  endowed  all  men  with  the  inextin 
guishable  right  to  live,  to  support  life,  and  attain  happiness  and  heaven. 
That  by  these  laws,  the  earth  was  divided  into  land  and  water,  time  is 
separated  into  night  and  day  :  By  these  laws  men  must  have  food  and 
sleep  and  rest.  They  must  have  raiment  and  babitation.  To  attain 
these  they  must  have  liberty :  That  no  human  enactment  can  change 
this  law  of  Nature,  which  is  but  the  manifestation  of  God's  will  :  That 
to  deprive  an  innocent  man  of  his  life  is  murder — to  enslave  him  is  equally 
a  crime,  the  character  of  which  no  human  law  can  modify  or  change. 
That  when  General  Jessup  and  the  Pagan  Creeks  undertook  to  enter 
into  a  compact  by  which  innocent  women  and  children  should  be  cap 
tured  and  enslaved,  they  merely  entered  into  a  covenant  for  the  commis 
sion  of  crimes  revolting  to  Christianity  ;  crimes  which  we,  as  a  nation, 
have  declared  "  piracy  "  when  committed  on  the  African  coast,  while  no 
one  would  say  that  God  looked  upon  the  place  of  committing  such 
crimes  as  of  any  importance.  That  both  General  Jessup  and  the  Creek 
Indians  deserved  punishment  for  thus  conspiring  to  deprive  the  Seminole 

*  Mr.  Cobb  was  subsequently  Speaker  of  the  Ilouse  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  and 
»fterwards  Speaker  of  the  rebel  Congress,  and  at  a  still  more  recent  period,  a  general  in  the  rebel 
array. 


BILL   DEFEATED.  245 

negroes  of  the  sacred  rights  which  God  had  bestowed  upon  them  ;  that 
the  Secretary  of  War,  who  sanctioned  the  contract,  simply  made  himself 
a  party  to  the  crime,  and  by  every  moral  consideration  deserved  punish 
ment.  Nor  was  the  President  less  guilty  :  His  high  position  did  not 
exempt  him  from  the  just  penalty  due  to  his  moral  turpitude.  Indeed, 
men  high  in  authority,  and  yet  regardless  of  that  justice  which  consti 
tutes  God's  dearest  attribute,  should  be  the  first  to  suffer.  Therefore, 
by  the  natural  law,  by  the  moral  law,  the  President,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  General  Jessup,  and  the  Creek  Indians  could,  in  no  respect,  chauge 
the  right  of  the  negroes,  nor  give  to  the  Creek  Indians  any  power  or 
moral  right  whatever  to  enslave  them  :  And  no  order  of  General  Jes 
sup,  sanctioned  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  approved  by  the  Presi 
dent,  could  give  the  people  of  the  United  States  any  authority  over 
those  negroes. 

The  second  proposition  was,  that  the  Constitution  was  based  upon  the 
moral  law,  in  letter  and  in  spirit.  That  it  provides  that  "  no  person 
shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  except  by  due  process  of 
law."  That  is,  without  trial  and  conviction  in  a  court  of  competent  juris 
diction.  To  enslave  these  innocent  people  was  a  direct  and  unmitigated 
violation  of  the  Constitution,  as  well  as  of  the  moral  law.  It  was  the 
exercise  of  despotic  powers,  the  commission  of  a  crime  of  the  first  magni 
tude,  for  which  the  Indians,  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  the  President 
deserved  punishment :  that  Watson  was  a  slavedealer  who  had  attempt 
ed  to  make  merchandise  of  human  souls,  for  which  he  deserved  the  gal 
lows  ;  but  surely  no  sane  man  would  admit  that  Watson  had  any  claim 
upon  the  people  of  the  North  because  he  had  failed  to  commit  the  crime 
which  he  intended  to  perpetrate. 

Messrs.  Cobb  and  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  and  Belser,  of  Alabama, 
denied  that  the  case  involved  the  question  of  property  in  human  flesh. 
They  insisted  that  the  high  officers  of  Government  had  advised  Watson 
to  purchase  the  negroes  ;  to  pay  out  his  money,  supposing  they  were 
under  the  control  of  the  Government  :  That  he  had  thereby  lost  his 
money,  and  the  United  States  ought  to  repay  it. 

Mr.  Adams  replied,  that  the  Florida  war  was  commenced  and  prose 
cuted  for  the  purpose  of  enslaving  innocent  people,  and  that  all  proceed 
ings  for  that  purpose  were  void  as  to  Congress,  and  to  all  other  per 
sons,  and  criminal  as  to  all  who  participated  in  the  transaction  ;  and  he 
moved  to  L,y  the  bill  on  the  table.  But  to  prevent  any  vote  involving 
the  merits  of  the  bill,  Mr.  Hammet,  of  Mississippi,  moved  an  adjournment, 
which  motion  was  sustained,  and  the  bill  was  no  more  heard  of  during 
that  Congress. 


246  PEIMAL   TEUTHS   DENIED. 

The  result  was  regarded  as  a  defeat  of  the  slave  interest  and  a  tri 
umph  of  the  whig  party. 

1845  .j  The  primal  doctrines  of  our  Government  were  again  brought 
under  consideration  upon  the  question  of  admitting  Florida 
to  the  sisterhood  of  States.  The  people  of  that  territory,  in 
framing  their  State  constitution,  inserted  a  clause  prohibiting  the 
legislature  from  abolishing  slavery.  Exceptions  were  taken  to  this 
clause.  In  the  discussion  arising  on  thL  question,  Mr.  Douglas,  of 
Illinois,  put  forth  the  doctrine  which  in  subsequent  years  he  main 
tained  with  such  determination  of  purpose  as  to  attract  ver^  general 
attention  throughout  the  country.  He  insisted  that  the  people  of  a  ter 
ritory  have  the  political  and  moral  right,  while  framing  a  constitution,  to 
establish  slavery  if  they  choose  :  Thus  boldly  denying  the  doctrine  of 
the  fathers,  that  "  governments  are  instituted  to  secure  the  enjoyment 
of  life  and  liberty."  Indeed,  he  maintained  that  human  govern 
ments  hold  the  same  legitimate  authority  to  murder,  which  they  have 
to  secure  life  ;  the  same  authority  to  enslave  mankind,  which  they  have 
to  protect  liberty.  These  doctrines  were  at  that  time  entertained,  appa 
rently,  by  the  entire  democratic  party,  and  by  leading  members  of 
the  whig  party.  From  1793,  the  Federal  Government  had  been  con 
ducted  upon  this  doctrine,  and  Florida  was  admitted  upon  this  prin 
ciple.  Mr.  Bayley,  of  Virginia,  was  bold  in  his  denunciation  of  every 
member  who  would  undertake  to  dictate  to  the  people  of  Florida  the 
character  of  her  constitution  and  government.  A  resolution  limiting 
the  time  for  debating  the  bill  was  adopted  ;  and  the  floor  was  thence 
forth  awarded  to  democratic  members,  who  occupied  the  time  until  the 
final  vote,  which  was  controlled  entirely  by  party  division,  being  123  in 
the  affirmative  to  77  in  the  negative. 

In  pursuance  of  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Democratic  National 
Convention  for  obtaining  "  the  whole  of  Oregon,"  Mr.  Duncan,  of  Ohio, 
early  in  the  session,  introduced  a  bill  to  organize  a  territorial  gov 
ernment  in  all  that  portion  of  country  which  was  then  in  the  joint 
occupation  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States :  And  the  policy  of 
the  democratic  party  was  declared  to  consist  in  obtaining  "  the  whole 
of  Oregon"  and  "  the  whole  of  Texas."  Northern  Democrats  justified 
themselves  in  pledging  their  votes  for  the  annexation  of  Texas,  in  con- 
sideration  of  southern  members  having  pledged  theirs  in  favor  of  Oregon. 
And  when  told  that  for  the  United  States  to  take  forcible  possession  of 
Oregon  would  produce  war  with  England,  they  replied  that  a  war  with 
England  would  silence  agitation  in  regard  to  slavery,  and  thereby  prove 
a  great  benefit  to  the  country. 


THE   WHOLE   OF   OEEGON   CLAIMED.  24:7 

There  was  a  full  discussion  of  the  bill  in  regard  to  Oregon.  An  amend 
ment  excluding  slavery  from  the  territory  was  adopted  by  131  to  69. 
The  bill  also  authorized  the  President  to  give  notice  to  the  British  gov 
ernment  terminating  the  joint  occupation  of  the  territory,  and  passed  the 
House  of  Representatives  by  140  to  59. 

During  the  debate  on  this  bill,  the  policy  of  obtaining  Texas  was  ad 
vocated  as  a  part  of  the  policy  adopted  by  the  democratic  party,  and 
while  discussing  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  same  policy  was  constantly 
avowed.  All  apprehensions  of  a  war  with  England  were  treated  with 
contempt  by  the  ruling  party,  and  most  of  those  speaking  on  that  sub 
ject  exhibited  a  desire  for  hostilities. 

Nor  was  the  Senate  inattentive  to  this  subject.  At  an  early  period 
of  the  session  a  bill  was  introduced  into  that  body,  authorizing  the  Pre 
sident  to  take  possession  of  all  the  Oregon  territory  up  to  latitude  54  deg. 
40  min.,  and  was  debated  until  the  day  of  adjournment ;  but  they 
took  no  final  vote  upon  the  bill  before  them  ;  nor  did  they  consider  the 
bill  sent  them  from  the  House  ;  and  the  twenty-eighth  Congress  was 
brought  to  a  close  without  any  definite  action  in  regard  to  Oregon. 

On  the  4th  March,  Mr.  Polk  was  inaugurated  as  President  of  the 
United  States.  The  bill  for  annexing  Texas  had  passed  and  became  a 
law,  but  that  in  regard  to  Oregon  was  yet  in  abeyance  :  The  Presi 
dent  in  his  inaugural  address  assured  the  country  that  "  our  title  to  the 
whole  of  Oregon  was  clear  and  unquestionable,"  and  that  he  would  use 
his  constitutional  powers  to  maintain  it. 


248  WAR   WITH   ENGLAND   DESIBED. 


CHAPTER  XYL 

ATTEMPTS   TO    EXCITE   A  WAR  WITH    GREAT   BRITAIN — THE   MEXICAN  WAR   COM 
MENCED EXODUS    OF    FLORIDA   EXILES. 

Ig45 ,  AT  the  assembling  of  the  twenty-ninth  Congress,  the  President 
in  his  annual  message  informed  that  body  that  all  attempts  to 
settle  the  Oregon  question  with  Great  Britain  had  failed,  and  reasserting 
that  England  had  no  title  to  the  territory  in  dispute,  called  on  Congress 
to  make  the  necessary  provision  for  maintaining  our  rights  in  the  disputed 
territory. 

This  appeal  was  heartily  responded  to  by  the  democratic  party  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  not  one  of  whom  appeared  to  doubt  that  a 
war  with  England  would  silence  all  agitation  on  the  subject  of  slavery, 
amd  insure  to  them  the  control  of  the  Government  for  an  indefinite  time. 
These  facts  impressed  the  public  mind  with  an  expectation  of  war,  and 
many  leading  Whigs  appeared  anxious  to  cast  responsibility  upon  anti- 
slavery  men,  and  to  hold  them  accountable  for  the  folly  and  crimes  of 
those  who  sought  a  dishonorable  war.  Whigs  and  Democrats  laid 
it  down  as  a  predicate,  that  opposition  to  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  in  the  Territories  and  on  the  high  seas,  could  do  no  good :  but 
while  it  must  fail  of  all  beneficial  results,  it  stirred  up  ill-feeling  among 
southern  members,  which  worked  mischief  to  the  body  politic ;  and 
would  eventually  destroy  the  Union. 

Unfortunately  a  class  of  men  called  radical  abolitionists,  regarding 
the  construction  of  the  Constitution  entertained  by  leading  Whigs  as 
correct,  and  honestly  believing  that  instrument  to  have  imposed  upon  the 
people  of  the  free  States  the  burden  of  supporting  slavery,  pronounced 
it  "  a  covenant  with  death  and  an  agreement  with  hell  ?'  declaring  that 
nothing  short  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  could  relieve  the  people  of 
the  free  States  from  the  moral  guilt  of  sustaining  slavery. 

Politicians  of  all  parties  manifested  an  estrangement  from  Mr.  Adams 
and  the  writer,  who  then  appeared  to  be  the  only  members  willing  to 
incur  the  odium  of  openly  opposing  the  slave  power.  The  Whigs,  with 
whom  they  had  always  acted,  excluded  them  from  their  consultations, 
and  held  no  •political  fellowship  with  either  of  them.  In  regard  to 
political  action  they  consulted  together,  but  with  no  other  members. 


MR.    CALHOUN  HESITATES.  24:9 

Soon  after  the  assembling  of  Congress,  General  Cass,  the  most  expe 
rienced  and  probably  the  ablest  member  of  the  Senate  who  acted  with 
the  democratic  party,  moved  resolutions  instructing  the  Committee  on 
Military  Affairs  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  our  fortifications  on  the 
seaboard,  and  the  means  possessed  by  the  Government  for  the  defence 
of  the  country :  Also  directing  the  Committee  on  the  Militia  to  inquire 
into  that  arm  of  the  national  defence  :  Also  instructing  the  Committee 
on  Naval  Affairs  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  the  navy  and  our  naval 
supplies. 

Joint  resolutions  were  also  introduced  into  the  Senate,  directing  the 
President  to  give  notice  for  the  termination  of  the  joint  occupancy  of 
the  territory  in  question,  declaring  it  to  belong  to  the  United  States, 
and  that  the  Government  held  no  constitutional  power  to  surrender  any 
portion  of  it. 

These  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  Senate,  sent  to  the     ,1846 
House,  and  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  ; 
who  reported  them  back  to  the  House  with  a  recommendation  of  con 
currence,  and  thus  far  every  indication  pointed  to  immediate  war. 

Mr.  Adams  and  the  writer  were  incredulous  as  to  approaching  hos 
tilities  :  They  could  not  believe  the  slave  power  so  reckless  as  to  enter 
upon  a  war  with  England  in  the  then  state  of  public  feeling  respecting 
"  the  peculiar  institution." 

At  this  time  Mr.  Calhoun  reappeared  in  the  Senate.  He  had  retired 
at  the  close  of  Mr.  Tyler's  administration  and  was  not  expected  to  appear 
again  in  public  life.  He  now  seemed  anxious  and  care-worn,  and  to  the 
very  general  astonishment  of  his  admirers  avowed  himself  opposed  to 
hasty  action  in  regard  to  Oregon. 

On  the  5th  February  the  resolution  from  the  Senate  requiring  the 
President  to  give  notice  for  the  termination  of  the  joint  occupancy  of 
Oregon  came  before  the  House  for  action  ;  and  the  writer  took  occasion 
in  a  public  speech  to  announce  that  the  slave  power  had  perfect  control 
of  the  Government,  maintaining  peace  and  making  war  as  the  supposed 
interests  of  slavery  might  dictate  :  That  the  democratic  party  had  become 
the  mere  instrument  for  sustaining  the  institution  of  slavery.  That  a 
war  with  England,  in  which  Oregon  and  Canada  were  likely  to  be 
added  to  the  free  North,  would  not  be  permitted  by  the  slave  power  : 
That  such  a  war  would  prove  to  be  one  of  emancipation  :  That  the  black 
regiments  of  the  British  West  Indies  would  be  lauded  upon  our  southern 
shores  :  That  devastation  by  fire  and  sword  would  render  the  cotton 
States  desolate  :  That  the  slave  interest  could  not  be  induced  to  engage 
in  such  a  war.  These  avowals  occasioned  great  sensation  :  But  Mr.  Adams 


250  THE    SLAVE    POWER   FRIGHTENED. 

followed  them  with  the  distinct  assertion  that  he  was  in  favor  of  holding 
the  territory  notwithstanding  the  consequences  ;  but  he  declared  his 
apprehension  that  the  President  would  recede  from  his  position,  and 
would  accept  the  British  proposition  to  make  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of 
latitude  the  boundary  line  between  the  two  governments. 

The  whig  press  throughout  the  country  denounced  Mr.  Adams  and 
the  writer  as  advocates  of  war  ;  but  the  President  now  faltered  in  his 
course.  In  a  message  to  the  Senate  he  stated  the  difficulties  which  lay 
in  the  way  of  obtaining  the  territory  between  the  forty-ninth  and  fifty- 
fourth  parallels  of  latitude,  and  asked  the  advice  of  that  body  as  to  his 
future  action.  The  Senate  advised  him  to  accept  the  British  proposi 
tion  for  making  the  forty-ninth  parallel  the  boundary.  The  President 
acted  according  to  this  advice,  and  the  whole  matter  was  pacifically 
arranged. 

But  while  the  slave  power  thus  avoided  a  war  with  England,  its  ad 
vocates  appeared  anxious  for  hostilities  with  Mexico.  That  government, 
distrusted  and  feeble,  was  known  to  be  utterly  unable  to  resist  a  large 
military  force,  and  it  was  believed  that  we  could  wage  a  war  upon  her 
people  with  impunity. 

No  sooner  had  Congress  passed  the  act  of  annexation  than  Mr.  Tyler, 
on  the  eve  of  retiring  from  the  Presidency,  dispatched  a  messenger  to 
inform  the  authorities  of  -Texas  of  what  had  occurred.  And  Mr.  Polk 
had  scarcely  reached  the  Presidential  chair,  when  he  ordered  our  army 
to  "  Corpus  Christi,"  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nueces,  that  being  the 
then  boundary  between  Texas  and  Mexico,  and  the  farthest  point  to 
which  Texan  authority  had  extended. 

When  the  President  received  notice  that  Texas  accepted  the  terms  of 
annexation,  he  immediately  informed  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  to 
enable  that  body  to  consummate  the  outrage  upon  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  people  of  the  free  States,  by  declaring  Texas  one  of  the 
States  in  the  Federal  Union.  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  had  pro 
tested  against  the  consummation  of  the  proposed  union.  Many  re 
monstrances  from  the  people  of  other  free  States  were  presented 
for  the  consideration  of  Congress.  The  writer,  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  presented  to  the  consideration  of  that  body  a  series 
of  resolutions,  declaring,  "  That  the  maintenance,  the  continuance  and 
existence  of  slavery  must  depend  exclusively  upon  the  power  and  authority 
of  the  States  in  which  it  exists. 

"  %d.  That  the  Federal  Government,  possessing  no  powers  except 
those  expressly  delegated  to  it  by  the  several  States,  is  destitute  of  all 
authority  to  establish,  extend  or  perpetuate  slavery. 


THE  MEXICAN  WAK  COMMENCED.  251 

"  3d.  That  all  attempts  of  Congress,  or  the  Executive,  to  associate  a 
foreign  slaveholding  people  in  the  administration  of  the  laws  of  our 
nation  are  in  palpable  violation  of  the  Constitution,  destructive  to  the 
interests  and  honor  of  the*  free  States,  and  subversive  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  liberty. 

"4th.  That  the  admission  of 'Texas  to  the  Federal  Union,  upon  terms 
allowing  each  holder  of  five  slaves  the  same  political  influence  and  power 
over  the  rights  of  the  free  States  as  that  exercised  by  four  of  our  free 
educated  citizens  of  the  North,  will  constitute  an  outrage  upon  the  rights 
and  honor  of  the  citizens  of  the  free  States  unequalled  in  the  history  of 
civilized  governments. 

"  bth.  That  a  voluntary  surrender  of  the  rights  of  the  free  States  to 
the  keeping  of  foreign  slaveholders  is  unworthy  of  the  representatives  of 
a  free  people." 

These  resolutions  were  laid  upon  the  table,  and  the  annexation  of 
Texas  was  consummated  by  a  vote  of  141  to  56.  The  entire  democratic 
party  voting  in  the  affirmative,  while  many  of  the  whig  party  failed 
to  vote. 

At  this  time  General  Taylor  was  in  command  of  our  troops,  and  his 
advanced  guard  was  at  Brownsville,  on  this  side  of  the  Rio  Grande 
opposite  Matamoras.  It  was  at  least  one  hundred  miles  advanced  into 
Mexican  territory,  beyond  the  farthest  point  to*  which  the  jurisdiction  of 
Texas  had  extended  :  And  the  first  blood  that  was  shed  in  the  Mexican 
war  was  that  of  some  deserters  of  our  army,  who,  being  pursued  by  a 
sergeant  and  guard,  attempted  to  swim  the  river,  but  were  fired  upon 
and  killed  by  our  own  troops,  without  being  arrested,  tried,  or  sentenced.* 

On  the  12th  April  some  sixty  dragoons,  while  recounoitering,      ,-1846 
were  drawn  into  an  ambuscade  ;  fifteen  were  killed  and  wounded, 
and  the  whole  party  were  taken  prisoners. 

On  the  9th  May  rumors  reached  Washington  of  the  commencement  of 
hostilities.  It  was  on  Saturday,  after  the  adjournment  of  both  Houses 
of  Congress.  During  Sabbath  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  met, 
and  before  sunset  it  was  rumored  that  they  had  agreed  on  a  report 
declaring  war  against  Mexico.  Hostilities  had  been  constantly  foretold 

*  This  exercise  of  a  barbarous  despotism  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  by  the  writer,  who  cited  a  case  from  the  American  State  papers,  where,  during  the  first 
Seminole  war,  some  deserters  were  shot  by  their  pursuers,  while  the  commandant  of  the  troops,  Col. 
King,  was  absent  from  the  post  on  business ;  but  on  his  return  he  failed  to  arrest  and  try  those  who 
perpetrated  the  murders ;  and  the  facts  being  known  at  headquarters,  he  was  himself  arrested, 
courtmartialled,  and  sentenced  to  suspension  from  service  and  pay  for  five  years.  This  sentence 
was  approved  by  the  President;  but  Congress,  learning  the  facts,  adopted  a  joint  resolution, 
requesting  the  President  to  strike  the  name  of.  Col.  King  from  the  roll  of  the  army,  and  it  was  done. 
But  no  effort  could  induce  the  democratic  party  now  in  power  to  examine  the  subject. 


252  A   CONGRESSIONAL   FALSEHOOD. 

by  those  who  opposed  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  had  been  as  con 
stantly  denied  by  the  friends  of  that  measure.  But  the  latter  now 
changed  their  position,  and  unblushingly  urged  the  necessity  of  war,  the 
conquest  of  territory,  and  the.  EXTENSION  OF  SLAVERY. 

On  Monday  morning  the  President  sent  his  message  to  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress,  declaring  that  "  American  blood  had  been  shed  on 
American  soil,"  and  arraigning  the  Government  of  Mexico  for  her  past 
neglect  of  duty,  called  on  Congress  to  provide  the  means  for  sustaining 
the  rights,  interests  and  honor  of  the  American  people. 

The  message  being  read,  was,  together  with  the  accompanying  papers, 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs.  They  reported  a  bill, 
declaring  that  "  war  existed  by  the  act  of  Mexico,"  and  in  one  hour  from 
the  reference  of  the  message,  the  bill,  with  this  flagrant  falsehood  for  its 
preamble,  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  with  only  fourteen  dis 
senting  votes.  The  names  of  members  voting  against  the  falsehood  that 
war  existed  by  act  of  Mexico,  were  from — 

MASSACHUSETTS.  Messrs.   Adams,   Ashman,    Grinnell,  Hudson   and 

King     .     . 5 

MAINE.  .     .     .     Mr.  Severance.   . 1 

RHODE  ISLAND.     Mr.  Cranston 1 

NEW  YORK.     .     Mr.  Culver 1 

PENNSYLVANIA.     Mr.  Strohm 1 

OHIO.     .     .     .  Messrs.  Delano,  Giddings,  Root,  Tilden  and  Yance  5 

No  sooner  was  this  falsehood  fairly  incorporated  in  our  legislative 
annals,  than  members  of  the  democratic  party  boasted  that  Congress 
would  be  no  longer  troubled  with  the  agitation  of  matters  relating  to 
slavery.  This  feeling  arose  from  the  conviction  entertained  by  politicians 
generally,  that  war  was  always  popular,  without  respect  to  its  justice  or 
injustice.  But  the  reformers  of  that  day  were  not  to  be  driven  from 
their  purpose  by  unmeaning  apprehensions  founded  on  moral  cowardice. 

On  the  following  day,  while  the  House  were  engaged  in  considering  a 
bill  to  raise  a  company  of  miners  and  pontoniers,  the  writer  in  a  speech 
stated  that  our  nation  had  waged  a.  war  of  conquest  against  an  unoffend 
ing  nation  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the  curse  of  human  bondage  ; 
und  declared  that  God  had  no  attribute  that  would  permit  him  to  smije 
upon  such  crime  :  That  all  past  history  and  experience  had  proven  that 
when  any  government  attempted  to  extend  its  boundaries  by  conquest,  by 
robbing  other  nations  and  people  of  their  territory,  such  aggressive  govern- 
bient  had  fallen  beneath  the  weight  of  its  own  crimes :  THAT  OUR  NATION 

WOULD  NOT  PROVE  AN  EXCEPTION  TO  THIS  RULE  OF  RETRIBUTIVE  JUSTICE. 


ME.    CALHOUN  LOSES   HIS   INFLUENCE.  253 

The  Hon.  Columbus  Delano,  of  Ohio,  also  seized  upon  the  first  oppor 
tunity  to  express  his  detestation  of  the  war  thus  commenced,  as  did 
Mr.  Culver,  of  New  York,  and  others  as  they  had  opportunity.  The 
bill  declaring  war  came  before  the  Senate  the  next  day,  when  the  par 
tisans  of  that  body  appeared  anxious  to  pass  it  without  examination 
or  delay.  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  leader  of  the  slaveholding  hosts,  now 
found  that  he  had  "  raised  the  whirlwind  "  but  "  could  not  direct  the 
storm.'7  He  had  led  in  the  annexation  of  Texas,  cherishing  the  hope 
that  he  could  extend  the  institution  of  slavery  without  involving  the 
nation  in  waf  ;  but  he  now  found  himself  the  feeble  instrument  of  a 
powerful  and  inexorable  party  bent  upon  hostilities.  It  was  in  vain  that 
he  asked  delay.  It  was  in  vain  that  he  Declared  the  measure  too  im 
portant  for  hasty  action.  Partisan  leaders  were  excited  under  the 
conviction  that  a  war  would  confirm  the  democratic  party  in  the  pos 
session  of  political  power,  and  would  effectually  suppress  all  opposition. 
Every  democratic  Senator,  except  Mr.  Calhoun,  voted  for  the  pending 
bill  with  its  mendacious  preamble,  declaring  that  war  existed  by  the  act 
of  Mexico,  although  it  was  notorious  that  our  troops  were  at  least 
a  hundred  miles  within  the  territory  belonging  to  that  government.  Mr. 
Calhoun  hesitated,  faltered,  and  refused  to  vote  with  his  party  on 
a  subject  which  he  foresaw  must  bring  upon  its  authors  a  responsibility 
which  he  was  unwilling  to  assume.  Messrs.  Berrieii,  of  Georgia,  and 
Evans,  of  Maine,  who  had  acted  with  the  whig  party,  refused  to  vote 
either  for  or  against  the  bill  ;  and  Messrs.  Thomas  Clayton,  of  Delaware, 
and  Davis,  of  Massachusetts,  voted  against  it.  The  bill  passed  that 
body  by  40  ayes  to  2  nays,  and  in  one  year  from  the  annexation  of 
Texas  the  nation  was  plunged  into  a  war  of  devastation  and  bloodshed, 
which  cost  the  expenditure  of  three  hundred  millions  of  treasure  and 
eighty  thousand  lives. 

The  advocates  of  slavery  now  appeared  to  feel  themselves  perfect 
masters  of  the  Government  ;  and  equally  conscious  that  the  advocates 
of  freedom  were  entirely  at  the  control  of  the  slave  power.  They 
spoke  of  those  who  voted  against  the  war  as  ranking  with  the  Federalists 
who  voted  against  that  of  1812.  They  assumed  that  to  oppose  the  war 
was  to  oppose  the  Government ;  and  spoke  of  all  who  condemned  the 
war  as  traitors  to  the  honor  and  the  interests  of  the  nation.  The  super 
cilious  arrogance  with  which  slaveholders  spoke  of  the  advocates  of  liberty 
became  disgusting,  and  at  times  the  resentment  of  members  was  not 
disguised.* 

*  An  instance  of  this  character  occurred  in  tho  House  of  Representatives.     Hon.  Barclay 
Martin,  of  Kentucky,  assailed  Hon.  Luther  Severance,  of  Maine,  in  abusive  terms  of  personal 


254:  INTRIGUE   WITH    SANTA   ANNA. 

While  the  war  was  thus  inaugurated,  there  was  at  the  same  time  a 
plan  set  on  foot  for  bringing  it  to  an  immediate  close.  This  plan  con 
sisted  of  an  intrigue  with  Santa  Anna,  the  exiled  President  of  the 
Mexican  republic,  to  get  him  back  to  Mexico,  place  him  in  power,  and 
then  buy  a  peace  of  him.  The  plan  succeeded  in  part.  Santa  Anna 
entered  willingly  into  it.  He  was  permitted  to  pass  our  blockading  ships 
into  Mexico  by  order  of  the  Executive.  But  when  in  his  own  country 
his  influence  was  not  sufficient  to  carry  out  the  object  of  his  return,  and 
the  war  continued  contrary  to  the  intentions  and  expectations  of  those 
who  commenced  it.* 

The  people  of  the  United  States  now  found  themselves  precipitated 
into  a  war  for  the  extension  jfnd  perpetuation  of  slavery.  Yet  among 
both  Whigs  and  Democrats  a  general  impression  prevailed  that  to  oppose 
a  war  in  which  our  country  was  engaged  would  be  unpopular,  and  but 
few  statesmen  or  politicians  were  willing  openly  to  denounce  hostilities 
commenced  and  carried  on  for  the  support  of  slavery. 

Reflecting  men  now  saw  clearly  the  necessity  of  a  political  organization, 
based  upon  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in  order 
to  emancipate  the  people  of  the  free  States  from  the  despotic  domi 
nation  of  the  slave  power.  Every  suggestion  of  such  a  plan  was  met, 
however,  with  the  cowardly  objection  that  it  would  occasion  the  dis 
solution  of  the  Union.  This  had  become  the  general,  the  conclusive 
argument  against  every  measure  in  opposition  to  slaveholding  dictation. 

The  "  liberty  party,7'  as  it  was  then  called,  controlled  some  fifty 
thousand  votes  in  the  United  States.  At  its  head  was  Hon.  James  G. 
Birney,  a  man  of  ability,  a  native  of  Kentucky.  He  liberated  his  own 
slaves  and  proclaimed  immediate  unconditional  emancipation  the  duty 
of  every  slaveholder,  characterizing  the  institution  as  a  political,  moral 

disrespect,  for  having  expressed  his  honest  convictions  in  regard  to  the  Mexican  war.  Mr. 
Severance  was  a  man  of  feoble  physical  powers,  while  Martin  possessed  more  than  an  ordinary 
athletic  frame.  On  hearing  the  assault  made  upon  Mr.  Severance,  a  few  friends  of  hrs  held  a  short 
consultation  and  requested  tho  writer  to  reply  to  Martin.  The  requeat  was  complied  with.  The 
writer  assumed  as  his  own  the  doctrines  and  views  of  Mr.  Severance,  and  then  inquired  by  what 
authority  Martin  had  offensively  assailed  them?  He  cloaed  by  saying  the  speech  of  Martin 
"exhibited  a  stefile  brain,  a  vicious  heart,  and  a  dastardly  spirit."  The  offensive  words 
appeared  in  all  the  city  papers  on  the  following  morning. 

Martin  feeling  uncertain  as  to  the  course  which  he  ought  to  pursue,  called  his  col 
leagues  together  for  consultation.  It  was  at  once  declared  improper  to  challenge  the  writer,  as 
he  would  only  ridicule  the  man  who  should  do  it.  It  was  also  agreed  that  it  would  be  a  hazardous 
business  to  attempt  personal  chastisement  on  the  street,  as  usual  at  the  South.  And  it  was  finally 
agreed  that  Martin's  only  course  was  a  public  reply  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  This  he 
never  attempted.  On  his  return  home  he  was  charged  with  pocketing  the  insult,  was  defeated  at 
the  next  election,  and  never  more  appeared  in  public  life. 

*  This  statement  is  made  principally  upon  the  authority  of  Col.  Benton,  who  was  at  the  time  a 
leading  Democrat,  having  access  to  their  councils.  (  Vide  Beaton's  "  Thirty  Years  in  the  Senate.") 


INDIAN   TROUBLES   ON   ACCOUNT   OF   SLAVERY.  255 

and  social  evil,  and  a  violation  of  justice  :  He  maintained  the  very  obvious 
truth  that  all  human  enactments  in  favor  of  upholding  it  were  morally 
null  and  void,  imparting  no  moral  right  to  the  slaveholder  and  imposing 
no  moral  obligation  upon  the  slave. 

But  this  doctrine,  although  correct,  had  since  1193  been  repudiated 
by  those  who  administered  the  government,  and  was  now  regarded  as 
very  unpopular  :  The  past  action  of  men  in  public  life  was  generally  con 
sidered  conclusive  upon  statesmen  and  people,  and  it  became  evident 
that  the  " liberty  party"  could  never  obtain  control  of  the  Govern 
ment  ;  and  the  hopes  of  reformers  now  rested  upon  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  that  construction  of  the  Constitution  whicn  left  to 
each  State  the  right  to  be  perfectly  freedom  the  expense,  disgrace  and 
turpitude  of  slavery. 

Mr.  Adams,  possessing  more  prestige  than  any  other  statesman  of  that 
period,  refused  to  unite  in  any  political  organization  ;  but  acting  inde 
pendently  of  all  political  associations,  continued  to  advocate  the  doctrines 
which  had  previously  characterized  his  public  life. 

News  from  the  Indian  country,  west  of  Arkansas,  informed  ,1846 
Congress  that  several  of  those  western  tribes  were  on  the  verge 
of  war.  The  Creeks  had  their  territory  allotted  to  them  by  metes  and 
bounds.  The  Cherokees  also  lived  upon  their  own  lands,  set  apart 
by  well  denned  limits.  The  treaty  of  Payne's  Landing  had  been 
enforced  upon  the  Seminoles  without  the  consent  of  that  tribe  ;  the  ad 
ministration  having  apparently  determined  to  compel  them  to  settle  with 
the  Creeks  for  the  purpose  of  allowing  those  savages  to  reenslave  the 
Exiles  or  colored  people  then  living  with  the  Seminoles,  their  ancestors 
having  fled  from  South  Carolina  hi  1105.*  But  when  the  Seminoles 
and  their  friends,  the  Exiles,  reached  the  Indian  country  west  of 
Arkansas,  they  were  not  allowed  to  go  on  to  lands  of  their  own,  accord 
ing  to  solemn  stipulation  ;  but  were  told  they  must  settle  upon  the 
Creek  territory,  under  Creek  laws.  This  would  enable  the  Creeks  to 
reenslave  the  Exiles,  according  to  the  obvious  intentions  of  the  admin 
istration.  These  Exiles  had  for  many  years  proven  a  great  annoyance 
to  slaveholders,  and  the  federal  administration  sympathizing  with 
the  slave  interest,  was  anxious  to  see  them  reenslaved,  in  order  to  render 
the  institution  more  secure.  But  the  Seminoles  refused  to  go  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Creek  nation,  and  settled  upon  lands  belonging  to  the 
Cherokees.  '  The  Creeks  were  disappointed  in  not  being  able  to  reenslave 
the  Exiles.  The  Cherokees  were  dissatisfied  at  having  their  lands 

*  Vide  "  Exiles  of  Florida,"  where  the  historic  facts  in  regard  to  those  people  are  collected  in  a 
email  volume. 


256  BEHINOLES    AND   NEGROES    FLEE   TO    MEXICO. 

occupied  by  the  Seminoles,  and  the  Seminoles  were  dissatisfied  at  not 
having  lands  set  off  to  them  according  to  the  supplemental  treaty  entered 
into  between  them  and  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

To  save  bloodshed,  commissioners  were  sent  to  the  Western  Country 
to  form  a  treaty  with  those  several  tribes  and  thereby  maintain  peace  on 
our  western  frontier.  This  object  was  effected  by  induciug  the  Seminoles 
and  Exiles  to  settle  upon  the  Greek  lands.  The  President  agreed  to 
settle  all  questions  of  slavery  between  the  Creeks  and  Seminoles,  and  the 
United  States  to  compensate  the  Creeks  for  all  slaves,  to  whom  they 
should  establish  a  title.  Before  the  treaty  was  puplished,  a  bill  making 
appropriations  for  carrying  it  into  effect  was  reported,  and  came  before  the 
House  for  consideration.  This  policy,  fraught  with  such  corruption,  was 
exposed  and^the  attention  of  the  nation  called  to  it.  The  Creeks  called 
for  indemnity  under  the  treaty.  The  Executive,  with  the  eyes  of  the 
nation  upon  him,  appeared  unwilling  to  act  upon  questions  in  regard  to 
slavery.  He  disregarded  the  demands  of  the  Creeks,  who  now  seized 
about  one  hundred  of  the  Exiles  and  sold  them  into  slavery  in  Louisiana. 
The  other  Exiles  and  a  portion  of  the  Seminoles  fled  towards  Mexico, 
pursued  by  Creek  warriors  ;  a  battle  was  fought,  many  of  the  Creeks 
were  killed,  and  the  remainder  returned  to  their  country,  while  the 
Exiles  and  their  Seminole  friends  pursued  their  way  far  beyond  the  Rio 
Grande  into  Mexico,  and  settled  near  a  place  called  "  Santa  Rosa," 
where  they  yet  reside.* 

A  barbarous  persecution,  of  these  inoffensive  people  had  characterized 
the  action  of  the  Federal  Government  since  A.D.  1790,  and  now  con 
stitutes  one  of  the  darkest  pages  of  American  history. 

*  7«<te«Exaes  of  Florida." 


AN   ADDITIONAL  MILITARY   FORCE  CALLED    FOE.  257 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    WAR    WITH     MEXICO     CONTINUED THE    LAST    SPEECH    OF    A    VENERABLE 

STATESMAN. 

AT  the  opening  of  the  second  session  of  the  twenty-ninth  Con- 
gress  the  popular  feeling  against  the  Mexican  war  was  far 
more  general  than  had  been  expected,  on  account  of  the  greater 
expense  of  blood  and  treasure  than  its  advocates  anticipated.  To 
meet  this  feeling,  the^  President,  in  his  annual  message,  attempted  to 
vindicate  the  course  of  himself  and  party.  Relying  upon  the  dignity 
of  his  position  to  shield  his  message  from  just  criticism,  he  embraced 
within  it  gross  fabrications,  misrepresentations,  and  sophisms  ;  but  its 
weakness  was  ridiculed,  its  mendacity  exposed,  and  its  moral  oblivious- 
ness  was  held  up  to  the  condemnation  of  the  public.  Members  now 
spoke  of  the  President  as  they  would  of  an  ordinary  politician,  and  his 
annual  message  was  treated  with  the  same  criticism  that  was  bestowed 
upon  the  partisan  speeches  of  members  of  Congress. 

The  advocates  of  freedom  assumed  a  more  bold  and  fearless  position, 
declaring  that  the  time  was  rapidly  approaching  when  the  political  issue 
would  be  made  between  slavery  and  freedom,  without  disguise  or  evasion ; 
that  it  were  in  vain  longer  to  threaten  a  dissolution  of  the  Union :  That 
submission  to  the  slave  power  had  become  intolerable  and  could  not 
much  longer  be  borne  by  the  people  of  the  free  States. 

The  President  in  his  message  called  for  an  additional  military  force, 
in  order  to  subjugate  Mexico.  This  proposition  was  resolutely  opposed 
by  the  advocates  of  freedom  ;  the  bill  passed  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  by  aid  of  party  discipline  ;  but  met  with  resistance  in  the  Senate, 
where  the  influence  of  Mr.  Calhoun  was  exerted  in  favor  of  a  policy 
which  he  characterized  as  one  of  "  masterly  inactivity." 

The  difficulties  with  which  the  bill  was  beset  in  the  Senate  aroused 
the  ire  of  some  leading  slaveholders ;  and  the  venerable  Thomas 
Ritchie,  editor  of  the  "Union"  and  printer  to  that  body,  assailed 
the  members  with  such  offensive  imputations  on  account  of  their  want 
of  zeal  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  that  he  was  expelled  from  the  hall 
ui  which  its  sessions  were  held. 

17 


258  THE    PRESIDENT   DESPONDS. 

Early  in  the  session  Mr.  Thommason,  of  Kentucky,  who  had  voted  for 
the  war,  offered  resolutions  declaring  the  restoration  of  peace  desirable, 
and  the  acquisition  of  territory  from  Mexico  impolitic  and  wrong. 

Mr.  Ficklin,  of  Illinois,  offered  resolutions  vindicating  the  war  and 
declaring  it  the  duty  of  all  good  citizens  to  support  it.  But  neither  the 
resolutions  of  Mr.  Thommason  nor  those  of  Mr.  Ficklin  were  considered 
or  voted  upon. 

Mr.  Schenck,  of  Ohio,  who  had  also  voted  for  the  war,  offered  reso 
lutions  to  withdraw  our  army  from  Mexico  and  to  prosecute  the  war  by 
blockading  the  Mexican  ports. 

Mr.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  offered  resolutions  for  terminating  the  war 
without  acquiring  territory,  and,  on  the  question  of  adoption,  they  failed 
by  a  vote  of  T6  ayes  to  88  nays. 

In  the  Senate,  Mr.  Calhoun  proposed  to  withdraw  the  army  to  a 
certain  line,  and  to  station  it  along  that  line,  which  should  thereafter 
constitute  our  frontier,  and  the  duty  of  the  army  should  be  confined  to 
its  defence. 

184T  .j          Our  army  in  Mexico  was  also  suffering  from  sickness.    Officers 
and  soldiers  were  falling  victims  to  disease,  and  the  difficulties 
and  burdens  attendant  upon  hostilities  appeared  even  greater  than  had 
been  foretold  by  opponents  of  the  war. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the  President  became  dis 
couraged,  and  directed  an  order  to  be  made  by  the  Secretary  of  War  for 
withdrawing  our  troops  from  Mexico.  The  order  was  actually  made  out 
and  was  to  be  sent  to  General  Taylor  on  the  following  day,  when  Mr. 
Benton,  learning  the  facts,  hastened  to  the  Presidential  mansion,  and 
dissuaded  the  Executive  from  a  measure  so  just  of  itself,  but  which 
would  have  defeated  the  very  objects  for  which  the  war  was  commenced, 
to  wit,  the  acquisition  of  territory  over  which  to  extend  slavery* 

No  effort  was  neglected  that  would  conduce  to  the  perfect  transforma 
tion  of  our  Government  to  a  slaveholding  and  slave-supporting  oligarchy. 
On  the  2d  March,  the  civil  and  diplomatic  appropriation  bill  was 
returned  from  the  Senate  to  the  House,  with  an  amendment  granting  to 
the  owners  of  slaves  on  board  the  "  Amistad"  fifty  thousand  dollars,  as 
a  compensation  for  their  loss. 

The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  the  slaves,  while  at  sea,  had  achieved 
their  liberty  by  killing  the  master  and  mate  of  the  vessel  and  taking 
possession  of  it,  and  finally  landed  on  the  Connecticut  coast.  The  first 
question  presented  in  considering  the  claim  was,  whether  these  ignorant, 

*  This  statement  is  made  upon  the  authority  of  Colonel  Benton  in  his  "  Thirty  Years." 


MK.  ADAMS'  LAST  SPEECH.  259 

barbarous  Africans  held,  in  common  with  the  human  family,  the  right 
of  life  arid  liberty.  For,  if  they  had  received  this  right  from  the  Creator, 
it  must  of  course  be  proper  and  just  for  all  men  and  all  nations,  and 
governments  and  people,  to  respect  the  rights  with  which  the  Creator 
had  endowed  them. 

When  the  amendment  came  up  for  consideration  in  the  House  of  Re 
presentatives,  the  writer  moved  to  disagree  to  it,  and  briefly  assigned 
his  reasons,  asserting  that,  in  resumfng  their  natural  rights  to  life  and 
liberty,  the  slaves  merely  discharged  a  positive  duty,  which  they  owed  to 
themselves,  to  their  posterity  and  the  world  of  mankind  ;  and  that,  in 
slaying  those  who  held  them  in  bondage,  they  had  executed  retributive 
justice  upon  piratical  slavedealers,  whose  appropriate  reward  was  the 
gallows  ;  that  it  was  an  insult  to  the  laboring  men  of  the  free  States  & 
ask  them  to  contribute  of  their  earnings  to  compensate  men  whose  voca 
tion  was  a  traffic  in  human  flesh. 

While  the  author  was  commenting  on  the  facts  of  the  case,  the  coun 
tenance  of  Mr.  Adams  seemed  lighted  up  with  an  unusual  glow  of  ani 
mation.  He  had  sustained  a  paralytic  shock  in  December  previous,  and 
for  a  time  was  not  expected  to  recover  ;  but  he  possessed  an  unusual 
constitution,  which  enabled  him  to  return  to  Washington.  He  at  all 
times  insisted  that  this  attack  constituted  his  political  and  moral  death. 
No  persuasion  could  induce  him  to  speak  or  write  for  the  public.  But 
on  hearing  this  question  debated,  he  appeared  to  forget  his  infirmity. 
His  love  of  truth,  justice  and  liberty  appeared  to  glow  in  every  linea 
ment  of  his  countenance. 

No  sooner  had  the  writer  closed  his  remarks  than  the  illustrious 
statesman  arose  to  speak.  Soon  as  he  was  announced  in  possession  of 
the  floor,  members,  leaving  their  seats,  gathered  in  a  dense  mass 
around  him,  to  listen  to  what  was  regarded  by  all  as  the  last  public 
speech  of  that  moral  hero.  Reporters  left  their  desks  with  pencil  and 
paper,  and  rushing  within  the  bar,  where  they  could  hear  his  voice,  now 
eafeebled  by  age,  endeavored  to  sketch  the  last  speech  of  the  vene 
rable  patriot.  His  utterance  was  low,  and  his  voice  tremulous  ;  but  his 
theme  was  worthy  of  angels.  As  he  proceeded,  his  voice  became  stronger 
and  his  utterance  more  distinct ;  and  although  he  had  attained  to  the 
age  of  nearly  four  score  years,  and  was  enfeebled  by  paralysis,  yet  he 
spoke  worthy  of  himself  and  of  his  past  life.  Southern  members,  who 
had  in  former  times  assailed  him  with  great  bitterness,  now  got  as  near 
to  him  as  possible,  in  order  to  catch  the  last  words  of  him  whose  voice 
had  so  often  resounded  through  those  halls,  but  who  was  now  so  ob 
viously  passing  away. 


260  THE   AMENDMENT  REJECTED. 

When  he  had  closed  his  remarks,  the  vote  in  favor  of  disagreeing  to  the 
amendment  of  the  Senate  was  taken,  and  carried  almost  unanimously.* 

*  This  was  the  last  speech  of  Mr.  Adams.  He  lived  more  than  a  year  subsequently  to  its  delivery, 
and  on  two  occasions  expressed  his  opinion  on  important  questions,  but  attempted  no  argument. 

The  deep  feeling  which  he  entertained  on  the  subject  of  liberty  was  illustrated  while  lying  upon 
what  was  supposed  to  be  his  death-be'd.  A  few  days  after  he  was  attacked  by  paralysis  the  writer 
visited  him. 

Soon  after  he  entered  the  room  the  attendants  left  it,  and  alone  in  that  chamber  of  death  he  sat 
beside  the  dying  statesman,  who  at  once  commenced  a  conversation  upon  the  subject  of  human 
rights.  The  writer  told  him  that  he  was  too  feeble  to  converse  on  a  subject  in.  \viuch  his  feelings 
were  so  deeply  interested.  Looking  the  writer  fully  in  the  face,  he  said :  "  My  dear  friend,  /  am 
on  the  verge  of  eternity  ;  I  shall  never  see  you  again.  I  must  talk  with  you  on  this  subject  which 
lies  so  near  our  hearts."  The  writer  made  no  further  objection,  and  he  proceeded  in  a  conversation 
which  is  yet  deeply  impressed  upon  the  writer's  memory.  At  no  period  of  his  life  had  Mr.  Adams 
^exhibited  a  deeper  solicitude  for  our  Government,  or  for  the  rights  of  mankind,  than  he  did  on  that 
solemn  occasion. 


HON.  E.  C.  WINTHBOP  CHOSEN  SPEAKER.         261 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

DISCIPLINE  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES — PEACE  WITH  MEXICO — IMPORTANT  QUES 
TIONS  ARISING  UPON  THE  TREATY THE  LAST  SLAVE  PRISON  OF  WASHING 
TON DEATH  OP  MR.  ADAMS — CLAIMS  FOR  DEPORTED  SLAVES  UNDER  THE 

TREATY  OF  GHENT. 

AT  the  assembling  of  the  thirtieth  Congress,  the  whig  party  ,1847 
selected  the  Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  of  Boston,  as  their  can 
didate  for  Speaker.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  education  and  an  accom 
plished  parliamentarian,  but  he  had  exhibited  indecision  in  regard  to  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  and  after  the  outrage  had  been  perpetrated,  he 
hastened  to  avow  his  concurrence  in  the  act.  He  had  also  voted  for  the 
Mexican  war.  From  these  circumstances  some  members  were  led  to 
distrust  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  freedom.:  and  the  Hon.  John  G- 
Palfrey,  one  of  his  colleagues,  sent  him  a  note  inquiring  whether,  if 
elected  Speaker,  he  would  so  arrange  the  committees  of  the  House  as  to 
secure  respectful  answers  to  petitions  from  the  people  of  the  free  States 
touching  slavery  ?  To  this  kind  inquiry  Mr.  Winthrop  refused  to  give 
any  direct  answer  ;  but  referred  his  colleague  to  his  past  action  as 
evidence  of  his  future  course.  With  this  answer  Messrs.  Palfrey,  of 
Massachusetts,  Tuck,  of  New  Hampshire,  and  the  writer  were  not 
satisfied,  and  refused  to  vote  for  him  although  they  had  previously  acted 
with  the  whig  party. 

Fourteen  Democrats  refused  to  vote  for  Mr.  Boyd,  of  Kentucky,  who 
was  the  candidate  of  the  democratic  party.  Their  objection  to  Mr. 
Boyd  was  that  he  had  voted  for  the  Mexican  war  and  against  the  exclu 
sion  of  slavery  from  the  territory  proposed  to  be  obtained  from  Mexico. 

On  the  second  ballot  two  Democrats  refused  to  vote  in  order  that  Mr. 
"VYinthrop  might  be  elected.  His  vote  being  110,  the  refusal  of  the  two 
southern  Democrats  gave  him  precisely  a  majority  of  one  vote  and  se 
cured  his  election. 

It  was  well  understood  that  leading  Whigs  in  the  North  and  in  the 
South  were  endeavoring  to  concentrate  the  voice  of  their  party  for 
President  upon  General  Taylor,  an  officer  in  the  American  army  who 
had  never  served  his  country  in  any  civil  capacity  ;  and  whose  popularity 
had  risen  entirely  from  his  gallant  bearing  upon  the  battle-field.  To* 


262  PAKTY   DESPOTISM   ILLUSTRATED. 

sustain  him  for  that  high  position,  a  paper  called  the  " National  Whig" 
had  been  established  in  the  city  of  Washington. 

On  the  10th  December  this  paper  appeared  with  its  leader  entirely 
devoted  to  Messrs.  Palfrey,  Tuck  and  Giddings,  arraigning  them  in  lan 
guage  at  once  supercilious  and  offensive,  for  daring  to  vote  against  the 
whig  candidate  for  Speaker.  The  editor  declared  he  would  send  two 
thousand  copies  of  the  paper  containing  this  article  into  their  districts. 
Thus  was  the  watchword  sent  forth  from  the  city  of  Washington  that 
these  members  were  to  be  persecuted  and  denounced  for  maintaining 
their  independence. 

Nor  did  the  "National  Whig"  stand  alone  in  this  work  of  detrac 
tion.  Leading  whig  papers  in  the  free  States  followed  the  example 
of  their- national  organ,  and  as  the  writer  had  served  long  in  Congress, 
the  weight  of  their  calumny  was  thrown  upon  him,  apparently  intending 
to  make  an  example  of  him  in  order  to  deter  others  from  offending. 
But  this  attempt  to  browbeat  members  into  subjection  to  party  dicta 
tion  proved  unfortunate  for  the  organization  :  It  drove  many  good  men 
from  the  part~T  and  constituted  an  important  step  towards  its  total  dis- 
bandrnent.* 

But  this  party  discipline  was  carried  out  more  perfectly  in  the  demo 
cratic  organization.  Indeed,  the  watchword  of  "party"  had  superseded 
that  of  moral  truth  and  justice  in  both  organizations ;  and  at  that 
time  controlled  their  action.  The  slave  States  were  generally  united 
upon  the  support  of  slavery,  and  the  democratic  party,  ever  subservient 
to  that  institution,  held  almost  undisputed  sway  over  the  Government 
and  nation. 

These  circumstances  contributed  to  the  formation  of  a  third  party,  dis 
tinctly  founded  upon  those  moral  principles  on  which  the  Constitution 
and  Government  had  been  based.  But  the  anti-slavery  party,  to  which 
attention  has  already  been  called,  was  not  only  impracticable,  but  was 
controlled  by  men  wanting  that  political  experience  necessary  to  render 
it  popular. 

These  facts  showed  clearly  that  the  new  party  must  base  its  action 
upon  the  Constitution,  and  maintain  the  rights  of  the  free  States  to 


*  Leading  papers  in  Ohio,  and  one  of  those  published  in  the  district  represented  by  the  writer, 
openly  pronounced  him  "an  apostate,"  and  attacked  him  with  great  bitterness  for  thus  setting  at 
defiance  the  behest  of  the  leaders  of  the  party  in  order  to  maintain  his  devotion  to  moral  truth  and 
political  principle.  This  called  out  the  writer  in  vindication  of  his  conduct,  showing  the  reasons  why 
he  would  not  vote  for  Mr.  Winthrop.  That  gentleman  feeling  aggrieved,  replied  to  the  writer,  and  a 
most  unpleasant  personal  and  political  controversy  arose  between  them,  which  continued  for  some 
four  or  five  years,  when  Mr.  Winthrop,  as  the  whig  party  diminished  in  power  and  influence,  retired 
to  private  life. 


OFFICIAL  INTRIGUE   OF  THE   SPEAKER.  263 

be  exempt  and  entirely  free  from  the  burdens,  disgrace  and  guilt  of 
supporting  slavery.  The  action  of  Messrs.  Palfrey,  Tuck  and  Giddings 
in  the  election  of  Speaker  was  regarded  as  the  germ  from  which  the  free- 
soil  party  of  1848  first  sprung  ;  although  neither  of  them  had  any  such 
thought  or  expectation  at  the  time  of  voting. 

The  President,  in  his  annual  message,  spoke  more  confidently  of  the 
Mexican  war,  referred  with  exultation  to  the  victory  won  at  the  battle 
of  "  Buena  Vista/'  and  openly  avowed  his  intention  to  obtain  from  Mexico 
territory  as  an  indemnity  for  the  vast  expenses  incurred,  reiterating 
the  mendacious  assertion  that  Mexico  had  commenced  the  war. 

The  Whigs  had  control  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  The 
Speaker  was  a  Whig,  and  the  committees  were  all  arranged  by  him  in 
such  manner  as  to  effect  the  political  objects  which  he  had  in  view. 
The  first  of  these  was  the  election  of  General  Taylor.  But  the  next, 
which  appeared  most  important,  was  the  furnishing  to  the  democratic 
President  all  supplies  which  he  demanded  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
war,  the  devastation  of  Mexico,  and  carrying  out  the  designs  of  the 
slave  power  in  obtaining  territory  over  which  to  spread  the  institution 
of  human  bondage.  The  committees  were  also  arranged  so  as  to  make 
no  reports  in  answer  to  the  respectful  petitions  of  northern  people  for 
the  abolition  of  the  coastwise  slave  trade,  of  slavery,  and  the  slave 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  in  the  Territories.  Thus  was  the 
influence  of  both  whig  and  democratic  parties  united  for  the  extension  of 
territory,  the  strengthening  of  the  slave  power,  the  increase  of  southern 
influence,  and  preparation  of  the  slave  States  to  assert  their  indepen 
dence,  and  overthrow  the  Government  which  all  had  sworn  to  support.* 

The  opening  of  this  Congress  was  marked  by  the  introduction  to  the 
Senate  of  Hon.  John  P.  Hale,  a  bold  and  able  defender  of  the  constitu 
tional  rights  of  the  free  States.  He  had  been  a  Democrat ;  but  while 
serving  in  the  House  of  Representatives  had  opposed  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  and  was  repudiated  by  his  party.  Returning  to  his  native  land, 
he  reared  the  standard  of  truth,  justice  and  constitutional  liberty,  and 
after  politically  regenerating  his  State  was  returned  to  the  Senate,  having 
richly  earned  the  confidence  which  the  people  reposed  in  him  for  many 
years.  In  the  dignified  body  to  which  he  now  belonged  he  was  regarded 

*  When  the  writer  was  first  assailed  for  refusing  to  vote  for  Mr.  Winthrop  to  the  office  of  Speaker, 
he  foretold  in  the  most  explicit  language  that  that  officer  would  arrange  the  committees  in  the 
manner  described  in  the  text.  Friends  remonstrated  with  him  for  asserting  these  things  before  they 
occurred,  saying  Mr.  Winthrop  would  not  do  it  after  his  action  had  been  thus  foretold  and 
denounced.  But  the  writer  replied  that  he  well  understood  the  elements  of  that  gentleman's  mind, 
and  that  he  did  not  possess  the  heroism,  nor  the  moral  courage,  to  do  otherwise  than  the  writer  had 
predicted. 


264:  QUESTION   OF   EXTENDING   SLAVERY. 

as  a  pioneer  of  a  future  organization,  which  many  believed  was  destined 
to  sway  the  Government  of  the  Republic. 

The  war  with  Mexico  was  so  palpably  unjust,  that  the  clergy  of  New 
England,  to  the  number  of  two  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty,  ad 
dressed  a  respectful  memorial  to  Congress,  asking  the  withdrawal  of  our 
army,  and  that  our  Government  would  offer  an  atonement  for  the  injury 
inflicted  upon  her  people.  The  memorial  was  presented  by  Mr.  Hale, 
and  was  committed  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  who,  accord 
ing  to  the  policy  of  both  Houses  and  of  both  the  leading  parties,  con 
signed  it  to  the  Clerk's  office,  from  which  it  was  never  exhumed. 
1848 ,  Mr.  Dickinson,  of  New  York,  offered  resolutions  in  the  Senate, 
declaring  it  the  true  policy  of  our  Government  to  obtain  territory 
of  Mexico,  but  not  to  establish  or  prohibit  slavery  therein.  Mr.  Yulee, 
of  Florida,  sustained  them  ;  but,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Foote,  of  Mississippi, 
they  were  laid  on  the  table. 

Mr.  Bagby,  of  Alabama,  offered  resolutions  declaring  that  neither  the 
people  nor  the  Legislature  of  a  territory  possess  the  authority  to  prohibit 
slavery  therein  ;  and  that  such  Legislature  has  no  authority,  except  such 
as  may  be  delegated  by  Congress,  and  that  Congress  has  no  power  to 
exclude  slavery  from  any  territory  of  the  United  States.  These  resolu 
tions,  after  debate,  were  laid  upon  the  table. 

Senator  Niles,  of  Connecticut,  presented  resolutions  from  the  Legis 
lature  of  that  State,  asking  Congress  to  prohibit  slavery  in  any  and  in 
all  territory  that  might  be  acquired  from  Mexico.  Mr.  Niles  had  long 
been  a  leading  Democrat  of  his  native  State  ;  had  been  honored  with  the 
confidence  of  the  Federal  Executive  ;  and  now,  on  presenting  the  reso 
lutions,  he  declared  they  spoke  the  sentiments  of  the  people  of  that 
State  and  of  himself  ;  said  that  this  question  must  be  met,  and  advised 
the  Senate  to  meet  it  promptly  and  justly. 

Mr.  Baldwin,  of  Connecticut,  also  presented  resolutions,  declaring 
that  it  should  be  regarded  as  an  unalterable  law  of  every  territory,  that 
neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  should  exist  therein. 

Mr.  Webster,  of  Massachusetts,  presented  a  memorial  from  the  people 
of  Forwardsville,  Virginia,  asking  Congress  to  appropriate  the  public 
lands  to  the  extinguishment  of  slavery. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  having  greater  experience  than  any  other  statesman  of 
the  South,  seemed  alone  to  comprehend  the  difficulty  which  the  slave 
power  would  bring  upon  itself  by  obtaining  territory  from  Mexico, 
thereby  increasing  the  intensity  of  that  controversy  which  was  already 
pending.  He  had  been  active  in  obtaining  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
for  the  purpose  of  extending  and  perpetuating  the  institution  ;  but 


MR.  CALHOUN  ABANDONS  HIS  PAETT.          265 

he  had  at  all  times  insisted  that  it  would  not  involve  our  nation  in 
war.  When  told  by  the  advocates  of  liberty  that,  as  Texas  was 
engaged  in  war  with  Mexico,  the  annexation  of  the  State  would 
necessarily  bring  with  it  the  war  in  which  the  State  was  engaged,  he 
had  denied  the  proposition  :  Seeing  his  error  in  that  respect,  he  now 
appeared  to  comprehend  the  evils  which  must  result  from  obtain 
ing  territory,  and  to  avoid  them  he  presented  resolutions  declaring  that 
the  "conquest  of  territory  from  Mexico  would  be  contrary  to  the 
intentions  of  our  Government  in  declaring  war,  a  departure  from  its 
settled  policy,  subversive  of  our  free  and  popular  institutions  ;  and  that 
no  policy  should  be  adopted  that  would  lead  to  such  disastrous  conse 
quences." 

In  explaining  these  resolutions,  the  distinguished  Senator  declared  his 
original  opposition  to  the  war,  said  it  was  unnecessary,  and  asserted 
that  the  President  had  no  authority  to  order  our  army  into  the  dis 
puted  territory,  while  Mexico  was  in  actual  possession  ;  and  asserted 
that  the  preamble  in  the  bill,  declaring  that  "  war  existed  by  act  of 
Mexico,  was  untrue,,  and  he  believed  would  lead  to  great  and  serious 
evils." 

No  Senator  appeared  willing  to-  take  issue  with  him,  who  had  so  long 
stood  forth  as  the  master  ruling  spirit  of  the  South.  He  now  fully  coin 
cided  with  the  views  of  Mr.  Adams  and  his  political  friends  touching 
the  war  and  the  consequences  growing  out  of  it.  But  the  party  had 
advanced  beyond  his  control,  and  the  sun  of  his  influence  was  evidently 
waning,  like  that  of  his  natural  life. 

The  President,  who  was  now  the  exponent  of  his  party,  did  not 
hesitate  to  assume  the  most  despotic  powers  incident  to  the  prosecution 
of  the  war.  Without  any  action  of  Congress,  or  authority  of  law,  he 
levied  a  tariff  of  duties  upon  importations  in  all  Mexican  ports  of  which 
our  army  or  navy  held  possession,  and  the  long  obsolete  power  of  levying 
contributions  upon  captured  cities  was  resumed.* 

The  President  justified  these  acts,  saying  they  were  equivalent  to  seizing 
upon  the  revenues  of  Mexico,  and  applying  them  to  the  support  of  the 
war  ;  thus  denying  that  he  was  under  obligation  to  await  the  action  of 
Congress  authorizing  such  procedure.  But  as  there  was  no  law  making 
the  President  or  the  officers  collecting  this  money  responsible  for  its  use, 
they  were  left  to  dispose  of  it  according  to  their  own  judgments  and 
consciences. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  war  with  its  atrocities  was  the 

*  At  the  time  of  writing  these  sketches,  the  whole  democratic  party  are  denouncing  the  Federal 
Administration  and  republican  party  for  confiscating  the  property  of  rebels. 


266  MASSACHUSETTS   SPEAKS. 

theme  of  debate  ;  and  as  it  had  been  commenced  and  carried  on  for 
the  purpose  of  extending  slavery,  it  was  constantly  scrutinized,  its  bar 
barities  and  horrors  were  held  up  to  public  view,  and  the  popular 
hatred  of  slavery  was  increased,  and  the  conviction  that  the  powers 
and  influence  of  the  Government  were  wielded  for  its  benefit  became 
more  general. 

In  the  month  of  January  Mr.  Palfrey,  of  Massachusetts,  spoke  upon 
the  President's  message.  He  was  a  young  member,  but  came  to  Con 
gress  with  a  high  reputation  as  a  scholar  and  philanthropist,  having 
emancipated  a  large  number  of  slaves  who  descended  to  him  by  the  death 
of  his  father,  who  resided  in  the  South.  His  speech  was  listened  to  with 
strict  attention,  and  was  characterized  by  great  ability  and  a  profound 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  truth.  Mr.  Adams  was  an  attentive  listener  to 
the  whole  of  Mr.  Palfrey's  address,  and  as  that  gentleman  resumed  his 
seat  the  venerable  ex  President,  with  a  countenance  glowing  with  intelli 
gence,  exclaimed  :  "  Thank  God,  the  seal  is  broken !  MASSACHUSETTS 
SPEAKS  !  "  apparently  realizing  the  extent  of  the  victory  which  had  been 
obtained  in  behalf  of  free  speech. 

1848  -,  The  treaty  of  peace  with  Mexico  brought  with  it  a  vast  ex- 
june22.J  ^nt  Of  territory,  from  which'  slavery  had  been  excluded  by 
Mexican  law.  The  ordaining  of  territorial  governments  in  New  Mexico 
and  California  was  necessary,  and  the  establishment  in,  or  exclusion 
of  slavery  therefrom  constituted  an  important  question  for  Congress  to 
decide. 

The  annexation  of  Texas  had  been  urged  under  the  usual  argument 
that  it  was  necessary  to  save  the  Union.     But  the  very  act  which  southern 
statesmen  had  urged  as  necessary  to  save  the  Union  had  produced  agita 
tion  and  presented  more  difficult  and  more  dangerous  questions  than  had 
.  been  previously  agitated. 

Oregon,  California  and  New  Mexico  belonged  to  the  United  States, 
but  their  status  in  regard  to  slavery  was  to  be  decided,  and  the  attention 
of  the  people  of  the  free  as  well  as  of  the  slave  States  was  intensely 
turned  to  that  question. 

In  speaking  on  this  subject,  Hon.  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  said  : 
"The  fact  that  the  slave  is  property,  which  the  owner  may  carry  with 
Mm  into  any  part  of  the  Union,  is  that  which  they  (the  South)  are 
desirous  to  see  recognized.  The  clause  in  the  Constitution  relative  to 
the  regulation  of  commerce  is  a  constitutional  admission  that  a  slave 
is  property.  It  is  because  slaves  are  considered  property  that  the  im 
portation  of  slaves  from  Africa  has  been  carried  on  under  this  clause 
of  the  Constitution.  The  words  slaves  or  any  other  property  in  the  Constitu- 


VOTE  ON  THE  ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY.          267 

tion  are  conclusive  on  this  point.*  If  the  existence  of  property  in  slaves 
be  admitted,  what  power  has  Congress  to  interfere  with  it  ?  Entering  a 
territory  with  his  property,  the  citizen  has  a  right  to  its  protection." 

A  number  of  citizens  resident  in  Washington  addressed  a  memorial 
to  Congress,  asking  that  body  to  abolish  the  slave  trade  carried  on  in 
that  city.  The  memorial  was  intrusted  to  the  writer,  who  moved  its 
.reference  to  the  appropriate  committee.  But  Mr.  Clingman,  of  North 
Carolina,  moved  to  lay  it  on  the  table.  All  the  members  from  the  slave 
States,  except  Mr.  Houston,  of  Delaware,  voted  to  lay  the  memorial  on 
the  table,  together  with  the  following  members  from  the  free  States, 
to  wit : 

MAINE Messrs.  Clapp,  Clark,  Hammons,  Williams,  and 

Wiley, *5 

HAMPSHIRE.    Mr.        Johnson, 1 

YORK.       •  .    Messrs.  Birdsall,  Collins,  and  Murphy,       ...  3 

PENNSYLVANIA.     .          "   '  Brodhead,  Brown,  and  Ness,         ...  3 

OHIO "      Dickinson,  Kennon,  Miller,  Richie,  and 

Sawyer, 5 

INDIANA.  ...  "  Petit,  Robbinson,  and  Wick,  .  .  .  .  3 
ILLINOIS.  ...  "  Ficklin,  McClernand,  Richardson,  and 

Smith, 4 

The  other  members  from  the  free  States  voted  against  laying  the  petition 
on  the  table  ;  the  vote  standing  92  ayes,  92  noes,  the  Speaker  voted  in 
the  negative,  and  the  motion  being  laid  over  never  more  came  before 
the  House. 

Slaveholders  regarded  themselves  as  possessing  influence  sufficient 
to  insure  the  success  of  any  measure  favorable  to  the  institution  how 
ever  absurd.  Thus  the  President  recommended  in  his  annual  message 
an  appropriation  by  Congress  to  compensate  the  Cuban  slavedealers 
for  the  loss  of  slaves,  who  asserted  their  liberty  on  board  the  schooner 
"  Amistad,"  to  which  the  attention  of  the  reader  has  been  thrice  directed. 
On  the  usual  motion  to  refer  the  messages  the  writer  called  attention  to 
this  recommendation  of  the  President,  to  tax  the  laboring  freemen  of 
the  United  States  to  sustain  the  Cuban  slave  trade.  The  message  was, 

*  This  sentence  may  be  regarded  as  a  specimen  of  the  accuracy  and  logic  of  the  great  body 
of  southern  statesmen  in  regard  to  the  existence  of  property  in  human  flesh.  Mr.  Davis  doubt 
less  supposed  there  was  such  a  clause  in  the  Constitution,  but  he  would  never  have  put  forth  the 
assertion  without  knowing  whether  it  were  true  or  false,  had  he  supposed  that  northern  Senators 
would  expose  his  error. 

This  dogma,  that  "  slaves  are  property,"  although  denied  by  the  Convention  that  framed  the 
Constitution  and  constantly  denied  by  Congress,  h^s  been  as  often  iterated  and  reiterated  by  south 
ern  politicians. 


268  KIDNAPPING   IN   WASHINGTON. 

of  course,  referred,  but  the  committee  treated  this  portion  of  it  as  they 
were  accustomed  to  treat  anti-slavery  petitions.  It  was  no  more  heard 
from.  % 

The  writer  was  in  the  habit  of  attacking  every  movement  tending 
to  make  slavery  a  subject  of  national  concern.  And  the  barbarous 
character  of  the  institution  is  well  illustrated  by  an  incident  that 
occurred  at  his  boarding-house  during  this  session  of  Congress. 

A  colored  man,  supposed  to  be  free,  with  his  wife  and  a  boy  of  some 
ten  years  of  age,  was  serving  at  the  house  referred  to.  He  had  been  a 
slave,  but  by  an  arrangement  with  his  owner,  a  widowed  lady,  he  agreed 
to  pay  three  hundred  dollars  for  his  freedom.  Of  that  sum  he  held 
receipts  for  two  hundred  and  forty  dollars,  and  both  he  and  his  wife 
averred  that  the  whole  amount  within  fifteen  dollars  had  really  been 
paid,  and  he  was  expecting  to  pay  the  remainder  in  a  few  days.  Under 
these  circumstances  a  slavedealer  of  the  city  paid  the  owner  three  hun 
dred  dollars  and  took  from  her  a  bill  of  sale,  of  which  the  man  had  no 
notice. 

The  slavedealer  came  to  the  house  where  the  man  was  at  work  and 
with  two  assistants  seized  and  bound  him,  and  thrusting  him  into  a  hack, 
drove  away.  The  wife  and  boy  were  in  great  grief  and  consternation  at 
the  abduction. 

On  inquiry  the  writer  learned  that  the  carriage  had  been  driven  to 
wards  the  slave  prison  at  the  corner  of  Seventh  street  and  Maryland 
Avenue  ;  and  with  Hon.  Abram  R.  Mcllvaine,  of  Pennsylvania,  he 
proceeded  thither  for  information. 

The  evening  was  clear  and  the  moon  shone  pleasantly  when  they 
reached  that  abode  of  barbarous  wretchedness.  The  prison  stood 
near  the  centre  of  an  inclosure  containing  perhaps  an  acre  and  a 
half  of  land.  The  windows  were  dark  save  one  in  which  a  fire  light 
flickered  dimly.  No  shrubbery  or  ornamental  trees  were  to  be  seen, 
and  the  picket  fence  which  surrounded  the  grounds  was  old  and 
dilapidated. 

As  the  writer  and  his  friend  entered  the  gate,  two  men  started  from 
the  house  apparently  to  meet  them.  As  they  approached,  one  of  them 
inquired  if  the  writer  and  his  friend  wished  to  see  Mr.  Williams  ?  They 
responded  affirmatively.  "  He  is  not  at  home,"  said  the  man.  "  Then  we 
will  see  his  agent,"  said  the  writer.  "  Beware  of  the  dog  1"  said  the  man. 
At  the  same  instant  a  fierce  mastiff  sprang  at  the  visitants,  but  his  chain 
was  not  of  sufficient  length  to  permit  him  to  reach  them.  Passing 
around  to  the  left,  in  order  to  avoid  the  dog,  they  reached  the  front 
door,  at  which  they  rapped  loudly  there  being  no  bell.  A  colored 


THE  LAST   SLAVE   PKISON   IN   THE   CITY.  269 

servant  responded  to  the  call.  Opening  the  door,  he  stood  in  the  dark 
passage  and  inquired  their  business  ?  They  told  him  they  wanted  to  see 
the  agent  of  Mr.  Williams.  Without  bidding  them  to  walk  in  he  left, 
and  soon  the  supposed  agent  appeared.  He  was  a  large  man,  apparently 
armed  with  bowie-knife  and  revolver,  on  the  latter  of  which  his  right 
hand  rested.  The  writer  stated  to  him  their  business.  He  replied  that 
he  "  had  bought  '  the  nigger1  and  had  paid  six  hundred  dollars  for  him  ;" 
assured  them  "the  boy"  was  anxious  to  go  South.  The  writer  inquired 
where  "  the  boy  "  could  be  found.  He  answered,  "  that  he  had  sent  him 
to  Alexandria,  that  he  was  already  on  board  the  ship  which  would  sail 
that  night."  On  this  intelligence  Mr.  Mcllvaine  and  the  writer  placed 
no  reliance,  but  bidding  the  slavedealer  good  night,  walked  away. 

Passing  through  the  gate,  they  turned  to  look  at  this  "  slave-pen," 
standing  in  the  midst  of  our  national  metropolis.  All  was  dark  and 
silent.  The  whole  contour  of  the  buildings  and  grounds  appeared  in 
harmony  with  the  piratical  vocation  to  which  they  were  appropriated. 
Its  inmates,  both  slavedealers  and  victims,  appeared  to  be  isolated  from 
all  sympathy  and  association  with  the  moral  world  around  them,  as  they 
were  separated  physically  from  all  other  buildings  of  the  city.  As  they 
stood  gazing  at  this  monument  of  disgraceful  barbarism,  the  writer  re 
flected  upon  the  horrors,  the  unutterable  grief,  the  despair,  agony  and 
suffering  to  which  the  victims  of  this  domestic  slave  trade  had  been  sub 
jected  within  its  walls.  There  an  agonized  mother,  separated  from  her 
home  and  husband,  had  been  imprisoned  with  her  two  children  ;  and  as 
she  mused  upon  the  past,  and  contemplated  the  future,  her  mind  was 
wrought  up  to  frenzy,  and  in  the  madness  of  the  moment  rhe  seized 
upon  her  offspring  and  tore  from  them  the  life  which  God  had  given  ; 
and  then  severing  the  thread  of  her  own  existence,  she  rushed  unbidden 
to  the  presence  of  her  final  judge.  Her  piratical  purchaser,  instead  of 
abandoning  his  accursed  vocation,  prosecuted  the  former  master  for  sell 
ing  him  a  vicious  slave,  and  instead  of  receiving  sentence  of  death  for  his 
crimes  at  the  bar  of  American  justice,  he  obtained  indemnity  for  his  loss 
at  the  hands  of  an  American  jury. 

From  this  gloomy  prison  a  female  of  nineteen  made  her  escape,  in  the 
vain  hope  that  her  eyes  might  once  more  rest  on  her  beloved  home  and 
friends  in  Virginia  :  But  the  slavedealer  and  his  assistant  immediately 
pursued  her,  and  as  she  was  crossing  the  "  long  bridge  "  south  of  the 
city,  they  came  in  sight  of  her,  and  called  to  some  men  at  the  opposite 
end  to  stop  her.  The  men  prepared  to  seize  her.  She  turned  towards 
her  pursuers,  but  seeing  no  chance  for  escape,  she  leaped  upon  the  para 
pet,  and  as  an  invocation  for  mercy  escaped  from  her  lips,  she  plunged 


270  A    MELANCHOLY    INCIDENT. 

into  the  dark  waters  beneath,  and  sought  from  her  heavenly  Father  that 
mercy  which  would  save  her  from  the  slave  trade,  which  was  then  sup 
ported  by  both  whig  and  democratic  parties.  This  slave  prison  had 
been  the  scene  of  more  crime  and  suffering  than  the  French  Bastile*: 
and  as  the  writer  and  his  friend  turned  to  leave,  they  felt  overwhelmed 
with  the  consciousness  that  this  "  last  slave-pen  of  Washington  City," 
this  memento  of  barbarism,  had  too  long  disgraced  our  American  land. 
On  the  following  day  the  writer  presented  to  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  a  resolution  reciting  the  principal  facts  above  stated,  and  pro 
viding  for  the  appointment  of  a  select  committee  to  report  a  bill  repeal 
ing  all  laws  of  Congress  which  authorized  the  sale  or  purchase  of  human 
beings  within  the  District  of  Columbia. 

A  motion  to  lay  the  resolution  on  the  table  was  made,  and  sustained 
by  all  the  members  from  slave  States,  except  Mr.  Houston,  of  Delaware, 
and  Jameson,  of  Missouri.  The  members  from  the  free  States  voted  as 
follows  : 

MAINE.     Yea — Messrs.  Clark  and  Williams, 2 

Nay — none. 
NEW  HAMPSHIRE.     Yea — none. 

Nay— Messrs.  Tuck  and  Willson, 2 

MASSACHUSETTS.     Yea— none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Adams,  Abbott,  Grinnell,  Hale,  Hudson, 

King,  and  Rockwell, 7 

RHODE  ISLAND.     Yea — none, 

Nay — Messrs.  Cranston  and  Thurston, 2 

CONNECTICUT.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Dixon,  Hubbard,  Rockwell,  and  Smith,       .     4 
VERMONT.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Collamer  and  Peck, 2 

NEW  YORK.     Yea — Messrs.  Birdsall,  Maclay,  and  Nicoll,        .     .     3 
Nay — Collins,  Conger,  Duer,  Gott,   Hall,  Homes,  Hunt, 
Jenkins,  Kellogg,   Sidney,  Lawrence,  William  T.  Law 
rence,  Petrie,  Putnam,  Rose,  St.  John,  Sherrill,  Sylves 
ter,  Tallmadge,  Warren,  and  White, 20 

PENNSYLVANIA.     Yea — Messrs.  Brodhead,    C.  I.  Ingersoll,  and 

Brown, 3 

Nay — Messrs.   Blanchard,    Butler,  Dickey,  Eckhart,  Fa- 
relly,  Friedly,  Hampton,  J.  R.  Ingersoll,  Irwin,  Mcll- 

vain,  Mann,  Pollock,  Strohm, 13 

NEW  JERSEY.     Yea — none. 

— Messrs.  Edsall,  Gregory,  Hampton, 3 


ASSAULTS   ON   THE   SLAVE  TEADE.  271 

OHIO.     Yea — Messrs.  Edwards,  Farran,  Kennon,  Miller,  Richey, 

and  Taylor,        6 

Nay — Messrs.  Canby,  Crowell,  Dickinson,  Evans,  Fisher, 

Fries,  Giddings,  Lahm,  Root,  Sawyer,  Schenck,  Vinton,  12 
INDIANA.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Cathcart,  Ernbree,  Henry,  Rockhill,  Smith, 

and  Thompson, 6 

ILLINOIS.     Yea — Messrs.  Ficklin  and  Richardson,      .     .  -  .     .     .     2 

Nay — Messrs.  Lincoln  and  Wentworth, 2 

MICHIGAN.     Yea— none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Bingham  and  Stuart,.     .     .     .  ,.     ...     2 
IOWA.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Leffler  and  Thompson, 2 

The  whole  vote  in  favor  of  laying  the  resolution  on  the  table,     .  85 

Against  it, 86 

At  the  announcement  of  the  vote  great  sensation  was  visible  among 
southern  members.  They  appeared  astonished  that  northern  men 
should  dare  encourage  any  examination  of  the  crimes  attendant  upon 
the  domestic  slave  trade.  Dilatory  motions  were  next  made  and  mes 
sengers  sent  to  call  in  absent  members,  and  after  an  hour's  delay 
another  motion  to  lay  on  the  table  was  made,  and  carried  by  a  vote 
of  94  to  88. 

In  the  month  of  March,  Mr.  Tuck  offered  a  resolution  directing 
the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  to  inquire  into  the  propriety  of 
prohibiting  the  sale  of  persons  under  process  issuing  from  courts  of 
the  United  States,  but  was  unable  to  obtain  a  vote  upon  it :  yet 
the  result  of  these  assaults  upon  the  domestic  slave  trade,  upon  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in  the  Territories  of  the  United  States, 
appeared  to  be  attended  with  far  more  effect  than  merely  defensive  mea 
sures. 

The  consciences  of  members  were  appealed  to  in  regard  to  the  Mexican 
war.  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  a  Whig,  offered  a  reso 
lution  thanking  General  Taylor,  his  officers  and  men,  for  their  gallantry 
in  prosecuting  the  war  with  Mexico.  And  the  question  whether  Con 
gress  would  tender  thanks  to  men  who  had  exhibited  courage  and  gal 
lantry  in  a  war  for  the  extension  of  slavery  was  presented  for  each  mem 
ber  to  decide  ;  but  181,  then  present,  voted  for  the  resolution,  the  writer 
alone  voting  in  the  negative. 

When  the  vote  had  been  announced,  the  writer  offered  a  preamble 
and  resolutions,  setting  forth  that  "  the  true  honor  and  glory  of  our  Re 
public  consist  in  encouraging  education,  diffusing  intelligence  among 


272          MR.    HALE   AND   THE   WRITER,    EACH    STAND    ALONE. 

the  people,  cultivating  a  knowledge  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  thereby  pro 
moting  the  happiness  of  mankind,  leaving  to  other  nations  the  enjoyment 
of  the  same  rights  which  we  claim  for  ourselves  :  That  the  welfare  of 
our  people  requires  that  we  shall  abstain  from  all  wars  of  aggression, 
by  which  a  spirit  of  conquest  is  excited,  and  a  love  of  military  fame  is 
stimulated,  and  the  peaceful  avocations  and  moral  restaints  of  civil  life 
are  forgotten  :  Therefore,  resolved  that  the  thanks  of  Congress  and 
the  gratitude  of  the  people  are  due  to  Hon.  Albert  Gallatin  for  his  dis 
tinguished  efforts  in  the  cause  of  truth,  justice,  peace,  and  humanity." 

Mr.  Dunn,  of  Indiana;  moved  to  lay  the  resolution  on  the  table,  and 
the  motion  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  132  to  45. 

But  the  resolution  of  thanks  to  General  Taylor,  his  officers  and  men, 
having  passed  the  House,  were  sent  to  the  Senate  for  concurrence.  In 
that  body,  Mr.  Hale  opposed  their  adoption  in  an  able  speech,  and  on 
the  vote  being  taken  his  name  alone  was  recorded  in  the  negative. 

For  many  years  southern  statesmen  had  urged  upon  the  Government 
a  system  of  free  trade  as  a  measure  of  justice  to  all  parts  of  the  Union, 
while  some  northern  members  felt  that  it  would  be  destructive  to  slavery. 
Hon.  David  Willmot,  of  Pennsylvania,  being  earnestly  in  favor  of  free 
trade,  offered  resolutions  declaring  that  the  expenses  of  the  Mexican 
war  ought  to  be  defrayed  by  a  system  of  direct  taxation. 

For  this  Mr.  Willmot  was  most  bitterly  assailed  by  southern  mem 
bers,  and  charged  with  aiming  a  blow  at  the  "  peculiar  institutions  of 
the  South,"  although  he  declared  that  in  drawing  up  his  resolutions, 
nor  in  presenting  them,  did  the  subject  of  slavery  enter  his  mind.  But 
the  southern  mind  had  become  so  excited,  that  every  act  of  legislation 
was  approved  or  discarded,  according  as  its  supposed  bearing  sustained 
or  detracted  from  the  influence  of  slavery. 

1848 ,  The  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  days  of  April  were 
rendered  memorable  in  the  history  of  slavery's  regime  :  And 
the  writer  believes  he  cannot  give  the  reader  a  better  idea  of  the  habits 
and  feelings  of  Congress,  and  of  the  people  of  our  national  metropolis, 
than  by  relating  the  incidents  of  those  days  somewhat  in  detail. 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th,  an  old  schooner,  of  some  hundred  and 
fifty  tons  burden,  was  lying  at  the  wharf  below  the  long  bridge,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  city.  She  had  discharged  her  cargo  of  wood,  and  the 
captain,  mate,  and  crew  were  lounging  on  the  wharf,  apparently  waiting 
for  a  return  cargo. 

At  eleven  o'clock  that  evening  the  writer  was  sitting  in  his  room, 
when  a  friend  called  to  inform  him  that  the  schooner  referred  to  had 
Bailed  with  some  eighty  slaves  on  board,  bound  for  the  North :  The 


MOB   VIOLENCE   THREATENED.  273 

writer  at  once  pronounced  the  plan  ill-advised,  and  stated  his  apprehen 
sions  of  a  recapture.  His  friend  soon  left,  but  sleep  fled  from  his  eyes. 
To  him  it  was  an  anxious  night.  He  watched  the  winds  of  heaven,  on 
which  the  liberty  and  happiness  of  so  many  human  beings  depended. 

At  length  the  morning  dawned.  It  was  the  Sabbath.  All  was 
quiet  in  the  city,  but  the  writer's  thoughts,  even  while  in  church,  dwelt 
upon  the  unfortunate  men  and  women  who  were  seeking  liberty. 

As  he  was  returning  from  worship,  he  was  told  that  a  large  number 
of  slaves  had  left  the  city,  but  no  trace  of  their  exodus  could  be  disco 
vered.  At  night,  it  was  rumored  that  they  had  left  on  board  a 
schooner  ;  that  large  bounties  had  been  bidden  for  their  recapture  and 
return  ;  and  that  a  steamer  had  been  chartered,  and  had  started  in 
pursuit  of  the  fugitives.  They  had  sailed  with  a  fair  wind,  as  far  as  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  but  could  not  turn  northward,  as  the  wind  was 
against  them,  and  they  dared  not  venture  out  upon  the  ocean,  as  the 
vessel's  timbers  were  rotten.  They  therefore  cast  anchor,  and  lay  quietly 
until  captured  by  the  steamer  ;  and  by  eight  o'clock  on  Monday  morn 
ing,  all  were  brought  back  to  the  city. 

A  large  crowd  met  them  at  the  wharf  ;  and  as  the  slave-catchers  and 
their  victims  slowly  wended  their  way  towards  the  city  prison,  the  mass 
of  spectators  became  so  dense  that  the  police  were  called  on  to  aid 
the  piratical  slave-hunters  in  conveying  their  victims  to  the  prison.  While 
passing  through  the  most  populous  parts  of  the  city,  the  excited  mob 
proclaimed  vengeance  upon  every  friend  of  liberty.  The  writer's  name 
was  often  mentioned,  his  residence  described,  and  threats  of  violence 
were  uttered. 

Friends,  who  heard  these  imprecations,  hurried  to  inform  him.  Others 
sent  messengers  ;  and  some  sent  notes,  warning  him  to  be  on  his  guard. 
But  Captain  Drayton,  and  his  mate  Mr.  Sayers,  of  the  schooner,  with 
the  eighty-three  negroes,  were  lodged  in  prison. 

The  two  Houses  of  Congress  met  at  the  usual  hour.  Members  ap 
peared  anxious  and  solemn,  as  if  some  great  calamity  had  befallen  the 
nation.  During  the  day,  the  writer  received  several  notes,  informing 
him  of  personal  danger  ;  and  at  night,  there  was  said  to  be  indications 
of  a  mob,  on  Seventh  street,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  General  Postoffice. 

On  Tuesday  morning, 'after  reading  the  Journal,  the  writer  obtained 
the  floor  ;  and  no  sooner  was  he  announced  by  the  Speaker,  than 
southern  members  gathered  around  him.  Soon  as  order  was  restored, 
he  asked  leave  to  present  a  resolution  and  preamble,  setting  forth 
"  that  Rumor  represented  that  more  than  eighty  persons  were  impri 
soned  in  the  United  States  jail,  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  with- 

18 


274:  A    PKO-SLAVEKY   MOB. 

out  being  charged  with  any  crime  or  offence  or  impropriety,  other  than 
an  attempt  to  enjoy  that  liberty  for  which  our  fathers  had  encountered 
toil,  suffering,  and  death  itself :  and  whereas  such  practice  is  deroga 
tory  to  our  national  character,  incompatible  with  the  duty  of  a 
Christian  people,  and  unworthy  the  support  of  an  American  Congress, 
therefore,  Resolved,  That  a  Select  Committee  of  five  members  be  ap 
pointed  to  inquire  into  and  report  by  what  authority  said  prison  is  used 
for  the  purpose  of  confining  persons  who  have  attempted  to  escape 
from  slavery  ?" 

Members  appeared  excited.  Mr.  Meade  objected  to  the  reading  of 
the  resolution,  and  Mr.  Holmes,  of  South  Carolina,  proposed  an  inquiry, 
whether  "  the  scoundrels  who  induced  the  slaves  to  escape,  ought  not  to 
be  hanged  ?"  But  leave  to  introduce  the  resolution  was  not  granted  ; 
and  such  was  the  timidity  of  members,  that  the  writer  could  not  obtain 
the  yeas  and  nays  on  the  question  of  leave. 

.At  evening,  the  mob  again  gathered  around  the  office  of  the  "  Na 
tional  Era,"  an  anti-slavery  paper,  and  committed  some  violence,  break 
ing  the  windows  and  window-blinds,  and  threatening  the  editor.  But 
he  behaved  with  great  firmness,  stepped  out  in  front  of  his  door,  and 
addressed  the  excited  mob  ;  and  by  his  coolness,  endeavored  to  prevent 
violence  and  bloodshed.  And  after  a  while,  the  police  having  made 
several  arrests,  the  mob  dispersed. 

Drayton  and  Sayers  were  in  the  prison,  and  constantly  threatened 
with  death,  by  violent  hands.  The  situation  of  those  men  rested  with 
much  weight  upon  the  writer's  mind  during  the  night,  and  he  determined 
to  visit  them  at  the  earliest  suitable  hour  in  the  morning.  Soon  as 
breakfast  was  over  ,on  Wednesday,  he  started  for  the  prison,  but 
called  to  invite  Mr.  Hale  of  the  Senate  to  go  with  him  ;  that  gen 
tleman  was  not  in,  and  the  writer  passed  on  to  the  office  of  the 
"National  Era,"  hoping  to  find  him  there.  As  he  approached  the 
building,  the  broken  window-blinds  and  windows  gave  unmistakable 
evidence  of  the  mob  during  the  previous  night.  He  found  the  editor, 
Dr.  Bailey,  at  his  table,  writing  a  manifesto  addressed  to  the  public, 
which  he  intended  to  publish  that  day.  Dr.  Bailey  objected  to  the 
writer's  going  to  the  jail,  saying  he  might  find  it  more  dangerous  than 
he  expected.  But  he  met  with  the  Hon.  Lawrence  Brainard,  a  Senator 
from  Vermont,  who  proposed  to  go  with  him,  and  who  behaved  with 
perfect  coolness  and  firmness  during  their  visit  to  the  prison.  Hon.  E. 
S.  Hamlin,  of  Ohio,  formerly  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  also  accompanied  them. 

As  they  reached  the  prison,  they  foun$  a  sentinel  in  the  yard  outside 


THE   PUBLIC   JAIL   A   SLAVE   PRISON.  275 

the  door,  to  whom  they  gave  their  names,  and  the  object  of  their  visit. 
After  some  delay  they  were  admitted,  and  found  the  vestibule  of  the 
prison  filled  with  men,  most  of  whom  were  said  to  be  slavedealers.  At 
the  foot  of  the  stairs  they  passed  through  an  iron  gate,  which  the  jailer 
locked,  and  gave  the  key  to  the  guard  stationed  there  ;  and  ascending  the 
stairs,  they  passed  through  another  iron  gate,  which  admitted  them  to  the 
hall  into  which  the  cells  of  Drayton  and  Sayers  opened.  Through  the 
grated  doors  the  writer  spoke  to  those  men,  stating  his  name  and  posi 
tion,  assuring  them  that  he  had  come  to  inform  them  that  they  would  not 
be  lynched  as  the  slaveholders  threatened,  but  they  would  have  a  regular 
trial,  and  that  friends  would  see  their  legal  rights  protected.  They  had 
been  in  great  distress,  not  knowing  their  fate  ;  and  on  hearing  the  voice 
of  friendship  and  kindness,  they  were  melted  to  tears. 

While  conversing  with  them,  a  mob  obtained  the  key  to  the  lower 
gate,  and  ascending  the  stairs,  called  on  the  writer  to  retire  immediately, 
or  his  life  would  be  in  danger.  He  spoke  kindly,  saying  he  should 
soon  be  through  with  his  business,  and  would  then  accompany  them 
down  stairs.  But  the  jailer  assured  them  that  the  writer  should  not 
leave  the  hall,  until  they  returned  and  delivered  up  the  key  of  the  lower 
gate  to  the  guard.  The  writer  continued  to  converse  with  Drayton  and 
Sayers,  and  the  jailer  induced  the  mob  to  retire  down  stairs  to  the 
vestibule. 

After  he  had  concluded  his  conversation  with  the  two  prisoners, 
he  looked  into  the  other  rooms,  which  were  occupied  by  slaves  and 
slavedealers,  who  were  examining  their  victims.  They  then  descended 
to  the  lower  gate,  where  the  mob  in  the  vestibule  appeared  to  be  highly 
excited.  The  jailer  hesitated  in  permitting  them  to  pass  through  the 
gate,  into  the  presence  and  within  the  power  of  the  mob  ;  but  he  was 
directed,  in  a  voice  of  kindness,  to  let  them  pass  through.  The  mass  of 
beings  before  them  was  dense  and  highly  enraged,  uttering  profane  im 
precations  against  the  writer  and  all  abolitionists.  The  jailer  opened 
the  gate,  and  they  passed  through  among  the  crowd,  which  pressed  back 
and  opened  a  narrow  defile  through  which  the  writer  and  his  two  friends 
passed  to  the  door,  and  SOOQ  found  themselves  in  the  jail  yard  from 
whence  they  entered  the  street ;  and  the  writer  went  directly  to  the  Hall 
of  Representatives,  where  he  found  his  friends  anxious  in  regard  to  his 
safety,  having  learned  that  he  had  gone  to  visit  the  prisoners  at  the 
jail.  To  them  he  related  the  incidents  that  had  occurred,  and  when  the 
House  was  called  to  order,  Mr.  Palfrey,  of  Massachusetts,  offered  the 
following  preamble  and  resolution  : 

"  Whereas  common  report  represents  that   a  lawless  mob   has  as- 


276  DIFFERENT    DOCTRINES    AVOWED. 

sembled  within  the  District  of  Columbia,  on  each  of  the  two  nights 
last  past,  and  has  committed  acts  of  violence,  and  set  at  defiance 
the  constituted  authorities  of  the  United  States,  menacing  individuals  of 
this  body,  and  other  persons  residing  in  the  city,  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  a  Select  Committee  of  five  members  be  appointed  to 
inquire  into  the  facts  referred  to,  and  to  report  their  opinion  whether 
further  legislation  is  necessary  or  expedient  in  the  premises  ;  and  further, 
that  they  have  leave  to  sit  during  the  sessions  of  the  House." 

The  resolution  involving  a  question  of  privilege,  took  precedence  of 
all  other  business,  and  an  excited  debate  arose  upon  it.  South 
ern  members  appeared  to  be  sincere  in  the  opinion  that  the  fugitive 
slaves  had  committed  a  grievous  wrong  in  leaving  the  service  of  their 
masters,  and  that  those  who  aided  them  in  their  attempt  to  escape  had 
been  guilty  of  crime.  They  did  not  stop  to  reason  ;  but  assuming  that 
the  captain  and  mate  of  the  vessel  had  placed  themselves  beyond  human 
sympathy,  they  spoke  of  the  writer's  visit  to  them  as  itself  a  violation 
of  law,  and  an  act  which  rendered  him  an  outlaw,  and  with  an  air  of 
arrogance  he  was  asked  publicly  before  the  House  whether  he  had  not 
visited  the  prisoners  ?  He  replied  that  he  had  visited  them,  not  merely 
because  he  possessed  the  moral  and  legal  right  to  do  so  ;  but  he  had 
done  it  from  a  sense  of  imperative  duty,  from  the  performance  of 
which  he  had  not  been  and  never  should  be  deterred  except  by  positive 
force. 

They  appeared  surprised  at  these  views,  and  one  of  them,  Mr. 
Haskell,  of  Tennessee,  at  once  inquired  whether  the  writer  believed  it 
morally  right  for  a  slave  to  leave  the  service  of  his  master  ? 

Astonished  at  the  question,  he  replied  that  he  believed  with  Jefferson 
and  the  Republican  fathers  "  that  all  men  held  from  the  Creator  equal 
rights  to  live  and  to  enjoy  liberty :  That  whenever  an  individual  stepped 
between  God  and  his  fellow-men  to  deprive  them  of  this  right,  he  does  it 
at  his  peril :  That  it  was  not  only  the  right  of  the  oppressed  to  obtain 
their  liberty  at  the  earliest  moment  they  could  do  so,  even  by  slaying 
their  oppressor,  but  it  was  their  unquestioned  duty  to  do  so,  even  to  the 
taking  of  the  life  of  every  man  who  opposed  them."  Mr.  Haskell  replied 
that  the  writer  "  ought  to  be  hanged  as  high  as  Haman,  but  that  his 
effrontery  was  so  much  beyond  his  own  conception  he  would  interrogate 
him  no  further."  The  debate  occupied  the  entire  day. 

While  this  subject  was  agitating  the  House,  Mr.  Hale,  in  the  Senate, 
asked  leave  to  introduce  a  bill  to  prevent  riots  and  unlawful  assemblages 
in  the  city  of  Washington,  on  which  a  very  exciting  debate  arose  in 
that  body,  and  at  the  close  of  the  day  it  was  difficult  to  say  whether  the 


EXCITING   DEBATE   AEISES.  277 

• 

excitement  was  most  intensified  in  the  Senate,  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  or  in  the  city. 

Mr.  Calhoun  was  the  first  to  denounce  Mr.  Hale's  motion,  and  with 
great  solemnity  spoke  of  the  slave  question  as  the  one  most  likely  to 
dissolve  the  Union.  He  referred  to  all  men  who  offered  resistance  to 
the  slaveholding  policy  as  demagogues,  and  dangerous  to  the  Govern 
ment.  He  appeared  to  entertain  no  doubt  that  it  was  the  constitutional 
and  moral  duty  of  those  who  wielded  the  Government  to  support  and 
extend  slavery. 

Mr.  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  pronounced  the  bill  of  Mr.  Hale  to  prevent 
mobs,  to  be  a  "  bill  to  protect  incendiaries  and  kidnappers."  Mr.  Foote, 
of  Mississippi,  charged  Mr.  Hale  with  complicity  in  the  escape  of  slaves, 
and  declared  if  he  would  come  to  his  State,  "  he  should  be  hanged  by  a 
mob  to  the  first  convenient  tree ;"  but  Mr.  Hale  bore  himself  with  coolness 
and  decided  ability,  meeting  his  assailants  at  every  point  with  facts, 
arguments,  and  logic,  that  could  not  be  resisted  by  human  reason. 

On  the  following  morning  "  The  Union,"  a  newspaper  published  in 
the  city  of  Washington,  being  the  Administration  organ,  contained  an 
article  asserting  that  the  excitement  in  the  city  had  been  greatly  increas 
ed  by  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Giddings  and  others  to  lend  aid  and  comfort 
and  counsel  to  the  white  prisoners  Drayton  and  Sayers  :  That  the  aboli 
tion  incendiaries,  Hale  and  Giddings,  had  thrown  firebrands  into  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress,  which  had  produced  an  excited  debate  in  each  of 
those  bodies.  It  stated  that  Mr.  Giddings  justified  the  kidnappers,  de- 
daring  that  although  the  act  was  kgally  forbidden,  it  was  morally  right. 
Mr.  Hale,  in  the  Senate,  expressed  himself  willing  to  relax  the  laws 
and  weaken  the  protection  given  to  slave  property  in  the  District.  In 
deed,  the  whole  article  was  calculated  to  direct  the  violence  of  the  mob 
towards  Messrs.  Hale  and  Giddings. 

At  the  reassembling  of  the  Senate  on  the  following  day,  that  body 
passed  to  the  ordinary  business  of  legislation,  and  bestowed  no  further  at 
tention  to  the  question  which  occupied  the  previous  day.  But  the  House 
resumed  the  debate  on  Mr.  Palfrey's  resolution  with  increased  energy. 
The  discussion,  however,  was  no  longer  confined  to  one  side.  Mr.  Root, 
of  Ohio,  a  man  of  unusual  powers  in  debate,  always  bold  and  gentle 
manly,  exposed  with  perfect  fearlessness  the  despotism  which  southern 
members  were  endeavoring  to  establish. 

While  this  debate  was  progressing,  one  Hope  H.  Slatter,  of  Balti 
more,  a  slavedealer,  having  purchased  some  fifty  of  the  slaves  who  had 
attempted  to  escape,  marched  his  victims  from  the  jail  to  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  and  along  that  court  street  of  the  city  to  the  railroad  depot, 


278  SACERDOTAL    HEATHENISM. 

which  then  stood  on  the  avenue  near  the  Tyber.  The  scene  was  des 
cribed  by  those  who  saw  it  as  truly  heartrending.  In  the  mournful 
procession  were  fathers  and  mothers,  brothers  and  sisters,  sons  and 
daughters,  bidding  a  final  adieu  to  their  parents  and  friends,  to  all  they 
held  dear  on  earth,  conscious  that  they  were  on  their  way  to  southern 
markets  ;  "  that  bourne,  from  whence  no  slave  returns."  It  was  said  that 
all  hearts  were  pained  and  all  eyes  suffused  with  tears,  save  those  of 
the  slavedealer  and  of  the  chaplin  to  the  House,  Hev.  Henry  Slicer, 
whose  countenance  appeared  bland  and  smiling  as  he  entered  the  car, 
and  walking  between  the  agonized  victims,  greeted  Slatter,  shaking  him 
cordially  by  the  hand,  and  then  turned  aside  to  reprove  one  of  the  men 
sitting  near,  a  member  of  the  same  denomination  to  which  Slicer  be 
longed,  for  having  attempted  to  regain  his  liberty.  Indeed  it  was 
asserted  that  Slicer  had  administered  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  to  this  man  a  few  days  previously  :  And  now  amid  the  sighs 
and  groans,  agony  and  despair,  the  clanking  of  chains,  the  prayers  of 
victims,  and  the  profanity  of  assistant  slavedealers,  Slicer  was  adminis 
tering  Christian  reproof  to  a  member  of  his  own  church  for  attempting 
to  regain  the  rights  which  God  had  given  .him. 

On  the  following  day,  as  the  House  was  called  to  order  and  the 
chaplain  ascended  the  desk  and  spread  his  hands  in  the  attitude 
of  prayer  to  invoke  the  blessing  of  God,  members  appeared  disgusted 
at  the  sacrilegious  hypocrisy,  and  one  of  them,  putting  on  his  hat, 
began  to  swear  as  Slicer  began  to  pray  ;  and  while  the  latter  invoked 
the  blessing  of  God  upon  members,  one  of  them  called  on  the  same 
Almighty  Being  to  damn  such  preachers,  and  most  of  those  present 
appeared  to  feel  that  the  prayer  of  one  and  the  curses  of  the  other 
were  about  equally  efficacious.  '  If  the  reader  should  regret  that  these 
details  are  placed  on  record,  the  writer  begs  leave  to  say  this  work  is 
not  designed  to  keep  facts  out  of  view,  but  to  transmit  as  nearly  as 
possible  to  posterity  the  incidents  of  that  day  simply  as  they  transpired. 
It  had  now  become  evident  that  southern  members  were  satisfied  that 
bluster  and  arrogance,  and  threats  of  dissolving  the  Union  were  operating 
against  them,  and  that  the  sooner  the  debate  was  closed  the  better  for 
the  interests  of  slavery.  The  writer  saw  that  if  he  spoke  on  the  subject 
he  must  do. so  on  that  morning.  Although  the  object  of  constant  as 
sault,  he  had  forborne  to  speak,  desirous  of  hearing  his  opponents  fully 
before  he  attempted  to  answer  them.  The  debate  had  lasted  three  days, 
and  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  was  the  most  profitable  to  the  nation 
that  had  ever  occurred  in  Congress  ;  and  whether  his  own  speech  was 
just  or  unjust  to  his  opponents  or  to  himself,  he  thinks  he  never  addressed 


THE   STOKY   OF   THE   EDMUNDSON8.  279 

the  House  under  circumstances  more  favorable.  The  principal  charac 
teristic  of  the  speech  was  its  independence  of  thought  and  expression. 
The  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table  :  And  it  is  believed  that  this  at 
tempt  was  the  last  put  forth  by  the  slave  power  in  Congress  to  silence 
the  voice  of  northern  philanthropy  by  arrogant  bluster  and  supercilious 
attempts  at  intimidation. 

While  the  writer  was  speaking,  a  note  from  a  friend  was  placed  before 
him,  saying  that  the  <l  Edmundson  sisters"  and  brother  were  among  the 
victims  purchased  by  the  slavedealer  Slatter.  The  brother  had  called  on 
the  writer  a  few  days  before  to  obtain  from  him  letters  of  commendation 
to  northern  philanthropists,  for  the  purpose  of  soliciting  contributions  to 
redeem  his  two  sisters.  His  complexion  was  light,  his  features  were 
Caucasian,  his  phrenological  development  bespoke  a  high  order  of  talent, 
his  language  was  good  and  his  deportment  and  bearing  gentlemanly. 
He  said  he  had  seven  hundred  dollars  in  money  and  could  leave  slavery 
on  any  day  as  he  commanded  his  own  time,  paying  his  master  for  it  ; 
"  But,"  said  he,  "  I  never  will  forsake  those  sisters."  Nor  did  he.  He 
was  in  the  procession,  walking  by  their  side,  at  the  time  referred  to  ; 
and  while  surrounded  with  indescribable  suffering  he  appeared  absorbed 
in  thought,  anxious  only  to  soothe  and  comfort  the  sisters  to  whom  he 
was  devotedly  attached.  That  manly  form  now  toils  beneath  the  lash, 
or  sleeps  in  a  servile  grave.  The  sisters  were  redeemed  by  northern 
philanthropists  at  an  extravagant  price.  The  family  was  said  to  have 
been  one  of  the  most  talented  in  the  State  of  Maryland,  and  the  writer 
fully  concurs  in  that  opinion.* 

On  the  3d  April  Mr.  Cummins,  of  Ohio,  a  Democrat,  offered  to  the 
consideration  of  the  House  a  series  of  resolutions  congratulating  the 
French  people  upon  the  success  of  their  then  recent  revolution  and 
tendering  them  the  sympathy  of  our  Government.  The  House  sus 
pended  its  rules  for  the  purpose  of  considering  these  resolutions,  to 
which  many  of  the  whig  members  were  opposed. 

Mr.  Ashman,  of  Massachusetts,  proposed  an  amendment  declaring 
our  full  and  hearty  sympathy  in  the  pledge  of  the  French  nation  for  the 
immediate  emancipation  of  slavery  in  the  French  colonies.  To  this 
amendment  Mr.  Schenck,  of  Ohio,  proposed  to  add  the  following  words, 
"  recognizing  as  we  do  the  cardinal  republican  principle  that  there  shall 

*  A  few  days  subsequently  to  the  scene  described  in  the  text,  the  writer,  on  opening  a  letter  from 
New  York,  took  from  it  a  draft  for  nine  hundred  dollars.  The  letter  was  signed  "  A  Grandson 
of  John  Jacob  Astor,"  who  had  been  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  New  York.  In  his  letter  he 
desired  the  money  to  be  used  for  the  redemption  of  the  Edmundson  sisters.  The  whole  amount 
necessary  to  redeem  them  was  made  up,  and  the  sisters  were  redeemed  and  subsequently  educated 
at  Oberlin  College,  Ohio. 


280  PKIMAL  TRUTHS  AGAIN  DEBATED. 

be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  except  for  crime}1  Thus  was 
the  House  again  at  once  precipitated  upon  the  discussion  of  the  subject 
of  human  bondage. 

Similar  resolutions  had  been  offered  in  the  Senate,  to  which  Mr.  Hale 
offered  a  similar  amendment,  and  that  body  and  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  were  thus  simultaneously  engaged  in  discussing  the  primal 
truths  on  which  governments  are  instituted.  After  several  days  of 
earnest  debate  in  both  Houses,  the  resolutions  were  adopted  :  But  Mr. 
Palfrey  moved  a  reconsideration  of  the  vote,  and  on  that  motion  delivered 
one  of  the  ablest  speeches  of  the  session. 

In  the  course  of  this  debate  the  fugitive  slave  act  of  1850  was  very 
thoroughly  examined,  and  members  appeared  satisfied  that  no  man  nor 
officer  of  the  free  States  was  under  any  constitutional  obligation  to  aid 
in  the  arrest  or  return  of  fugitive  slaves  :  And  that  if  such  fugitive 
were  to  slay  his  master  and  all  others  who  opposed  his  escape,  there 
was  no  law  to  punish  him. 

In  following  these  consecutive  events  we  have  failed  to  mention  in 
chronological  order  the  death  of  the  venerable  Ex-President  Adams, 
who  had  so  long  stood  forth  as  the  leader  of  freedom's  hosts.  His 
lamp  of  life  had  long  seemed  faintly  to  flicker  in  the  socket.  He  often 
expressed  to  the  writer  and  others  his  consciousness,  to  use  his  own 
words,  of  standing  "  upon  the  verge  of  eternity,"  and  in  continuing  his 
diary  he  termed  his  own  writings,  after  the  paralytic  shock  referred  to 
heretofore,  as  "posthumous,"  saying  he  was  morally  and  politically  and 
almost  physically  dead  :  Yet  he  continued  cheerful  and  exhibited  as  great 
a  degree  of  interest  in  the  cause  of  human  rights  as  he  had  ever  done. 
184g,  On  the  morning  of  the  21st  February  he  was  in  his  seat  at  the 
usual  hour  of  commencing  business.  The  writer,  as  was  his  cus 
tom,  inquired  concerning  his  health.  He  shook  hands  with  his  accus 
tomed  cordiality,  while  his  ordinary  smile  seemed  faintly  to  light  up  his 
countenance. 

When  the  House  proceeded  to  business  he  resumed  his  pen.  He 
had  commenced  an  apostrophe  to  the  Genius  of  History,  which  was 
represented  by  the  recording  angel  sitting  on  the  clock  of  time  at 
the  front  entrance  of  the  hall,  when  he  was  suddenly  seized  with  an 
apoplectic  fit,  was  carried  to  the  rotunda  in  apparently  an  unconscious 
state  and  laid  upon  a  sofa.  While  there  he  gave  utterance  to  those  last 
words  so  often  quoted  :  "  This  is  the  last  of  earth,  but  I  am  prepared."* 

*  The  writer  here  gives'  the  words  as  he  then  understood  them,  but  the  committee  appointed  to 
arrange  the  funeral  ceremonies  reported  his  last  words  to  be,  "  this  is  the  last  of  earth,  but  I  am 
content."  The  word  content  the  writer  believes  was  seldom  used  by  Mr.  Adams. 


LEGISLATION    IN    SUPPORT   OF    SLAVERY.  281 

He  was  soon  after  removed  to  the  Speaker's  room,  where  he  lay  ap 
parently  unconscious  on  that  and  the  following  day,  and  at  a  quarter 
past  seven  o'clock  on  the  23d  he  departed  to  his  final  rest. 

Another  subject  connected  with  slavery  attracted  attention  near  the 
close  of  this  session  of  Congress.  In  the  long  pending  controversy  be 
tween  our  Government  and  Great  Britain  concerning  deported  slaves 
under  the  first  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  a  list  of  the  slaves 
claimed  to  have  been  lost  was  made  out  and  presented  to  the  British 
Ministry. 

This  list  was  subsequently  found  to  be  fraudulent,  containing  the  names 
of  a  large  number  of  imaginary  slaves  who  never  had  existence  :  But  it 
had  been  made  the  basis  of  negotiations,  and  our  Government  was  not 
only  used  as  the  instrument  for  supporting  slavery,  but  it  was  disgraced 
by  a  petty  fraud  unworthy  of  honest  or  honorable  men. 

After  the  money  was  obtained  from  England,  the  claimants  being  held 
to  strict  proof  as  to  the  loss  of  slaves,  and  all  such  being  paid  for,  there 
were  several  thousand  dollars  remaining  in  the  treasury.  The  money 
properly  belonged  to  the  British  Government,  but  no  movement  to  refund 
it  was  made. 

A  Mr.  Hodges,  of  Maryland,  now  petitioned  Congress  for  indemnity 
for  a  slave  who  left  the  country  on  board  a  British  ship  in  1814.  The 
petitioner  had  not  filed  his  claim  under  the  treaty,  nor  did  it  come  within 
treaty  stipulations  ;  but  finding  this  money,  which  had  been  obtained 
under  pretence  that  the  British  navy  had  carried  away  a  greater  number 
of  slaves  than  had  actually  left  their  masters,  he  called  on  Congress  to 
pay  him  for  the  loss  of  his  human  chattel  from  the  money  to  which 
neither  he  nor  the  Government  had  any  moral  right. 

The  petition  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  who 
had  been  appointed  by  a  whig  Speaker  (Mr.  Winthrop).  Six  members 
of  that  committee  were  from  the  free  States,  to  wit :  Mr.  Smith,  of 
Connecticut ;  C.  I.  Ingersoll,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Marsh,  of  Vermont ; 
Duer,  of  New  York  ;  McClellan,  of  Michigan,  and  Duncan,  of  Massa 
chusetts.  While  Messrs.  Rhett,  of  South  Carolina  ;  Hilliard,  of  Ala 
bama,  and  Pendleton,  of  Virginia,  represented  the  slave  States. 

This  committee,  apparently  without  a  dissenting  voice,  reported  a  bill 
to  pay  for  this  slave,  and  when  it  came  before  the  House  it  was  admitted 
by  all  that  the  slave  was  not  embraced  in  the  treaty  nor  in  the  subse 
quent  negotiation. 

2d.  That  the  treaty-making  power  could  impose  no  obligation  upon 
Congress  to  interfere  in  support  or  in  the  abolition  of  slavery. 

3d.  It  was  urged  that  slaves  were  not  property,  and  that  no  human 


282  FURTHER   LEGISLATION   FOR   SLAVERY. 

legislation  could  confer  any  moral  right  on  one  man  to  hold  another  as 
property. 

4th.  That  it  was  disgraceful  to  our  Government  for  Congress  to  legis 
late  upon  the  price  of  God's  image. 

But  although  the  whig  party  was  then  in  power  in  the  House  of  Re 
presentatives,  this  bill  was  sanctioned  by  the  committee  of  the  whole 
body,  and  when  it  came  into  the  House,  the  friends  of  liberty  could  not 
induce  one-fifth  of  the  members  to  vote  for  the  Yeas  and  Nays,  and  the 
bill  received  its  third  reading  and  final  passage  without  leaving  any  re 
cord  showing  who  voted  for,  or  who  against  it :  Northern  members  dared 
not  record  their  votes  for  the  bill,  and  were  afraid  to  vote  against  it. 

On  the  14th"  August  Congress  adjourned,  having  spent  more  time  in 
the  discussion  of  slavery  and  questions  connected  with  that  institution, 
than  had  been  appropriated  to  that  subject  at  any  former  session. 


CONVENTION   ASSEMBLES   AT   BUFFALO.  28{ 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THE  SLAVE  TRADE  IN  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA  SUSTAINED — PROPERTY  IN 

HUMAN  FLESH  DECREED THE  MOMENTOUS  ISSUE  ON  EXTENDING  SLAVERY 

INTO  THE  TERRITORIES  DECIDED. 

DURING  the  recess  of  Congress  the  Presidential  election  took  ,184g 
place.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  been  mortified  and 
dissatisfied  with  his  defeat  in  1840.  He  had  served  but  one  term,  while 
every  southern  President  had  been  reflected.  His  friends  determined 
to  nominate  him  again.  But  he  had,  while  serving  as  President,  ad 
mitted  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  had  refused  to  hold  diplomatic  correspondence 
with  the  authorities  of  Texas  concerning  the  annexation  of  that  coun 
try,  believing  such  an  act  would  be  unconstitutional.  Southern  states 
men  allowed  no  faltering  among  their  professed  friends,  and  Mr.  Yan 
Buren  was  defeated  by  southern  influence  in  the  nominating  convention, 
at  which  his  friends  were  greatly  offended.  They  nominated  General 
Ca^s,  however,  who  was  a  northern  man. 

The  Whigs  nominated  General  Taylor,  trusting  to  his  military  charac 
ter  to  secure  his  election  :  But  he  was  a  large  slaveholder  and  unaccept 
able  to  the  advocates  of  liberty.  Indeed,  they  would  not  support  either  ; 
feeling  that  the  time  had  fully  come  when  a  distinctive  organization 
should  be  formed  upon  such  principles  as  would  lead  to  the  separation- 
of  the  Government  and  the  free  States  from  the  support  of  slavery.  A 
large  convention  assembled  at  Buffalo,  and  adopting  a  platform  of  doc 
trines,  they  nominated  Mr.  Yan  Bureu  as  their  candidate,  who  unhesi 
tatingly  pledged  himself  to  the  principles  enunciated.  His  democratic 
friends  supported  him,  and  by  that  means  General  Cass  was  defeated, 
and  General  Taylor  was  elected  President. 

The  democratic  party  now  stood  humbled  before  the  country  in  conse 
quence  of  its  devotion  to  slavery  ;  while  the  Whigs  held  the  executive 
branch  of  government  solely  because  of  the  divisions  in  the  democratic 
ranks.  There  was  yet  no  distinct  issue  between  these  two  organizations  : 
Neither  professed  to  draw  any  distinction  between  slavery  and  freedom, 
between  the  barbarism  of  oppression  and  Christian  civilization,  between 
right  and  wrong.  The  whig  party  came  into  power,  but  reflecting  states- 


284 

men  foresaw  that  its  disbandment  was  near  at  hand,  as  they  had  united 
upon  no  distinctive  principle  on  which  they  could  rally,  after  the  offices 
should  be  distributed  and  executive  favors  granted. 

The  advocates  of  liberty  were  known  as  "  Free-soilers,"  from  the  fact 
that  they  advocated  freedom  of  the  soil  wherever  Congress  held  exclu 
sive  jurisdiction.  They  had  broken  the  prestige  of  the  democratic  party, 
and  now  looked  to  the  breaking  up  of  the  whig  organization  with  great 
confidence. 

Under  these  circumstances  Congress  assembled ;  and  early  in  December 
Mr.  Palfrey  asked  leave  to  introduce  a  bill  to  repeal  all  acts,  and  such 
parts  of  any  and  of  all  acts  of  Congress  which  authorize  the  existence 
or  support  of  Slavery  or  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
The  intention  of  this  motion  was  to  place  before  the  country  the  fact 
that  both  political  parties,  whig  and  democratic,  were  wielding  the  power 
of  the  Government  for  the  maintenance  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade, 
while  they  constantly  denied  that  the  Government  or  free  States  were  in 
any  way  interested  or  concerned  in  that  institution.  On  Mr.  Pal 
frey's  motion,  all  the  members  from  the  slave  States  voted  against  leave 
to  introduce  the  bill,  together  with  the  following  members  from  the  free 
States  : 

NEW  YORK.     .     Mr.  Sherril 1 

PENNSYLVANIA.     Messrs.  Brady,  Brown,  C.  I.  Ingersoll,  Irwin,  Le 
vin,  Mann,  and  Strong 7 

OHIO.     .     .     .     Messrs.  Kennon  and  Miller 2 

INDIANA.     .     .  "      Robbinson  and  Thompson  ......     2 

ILLINOIS.    .     .  "      Ficklin,   Lincoln,  McClernard,  Richardson, 

and  Smith .     .     '.    5 

'  IOWA.    .     .     .     Mr.  Leffler 1 

WISCONSIN.     .       "    Lynde 1 

MAINE.  .     .     .     Messrs.  Clark  and  Wiley 2 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  only  twenty-one  members  from  the  free 
States,  all  but  one  of  whom  were  Democrats,  were  willing  to  place  their 
names  on  record  distinctly  in  favor  of  maintaining  slavery  and  the  slave 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  while  the  following  members  put  their 
names  on  record  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade 
in  said  District,  to  wit : 

MAINE.       .     .     .     Messrs.  Belcher  and  Smart 2 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  "     Peaslee,  Johnson,  and  WUlson       ...  3 

MASSACHUSETTS.  .  "     Abbott,  Grinnell,   Hale,   King,   Palfrey, 

and  Rockwell  6 


THE    VOTE   THEREON. 


285 


YERMONT. 
CONNECTICUT. 
RHODE  ISLAND. 
YORK.  , 


NEW  JERSEY. 
PENNSYLVANIA. 


OHIO. 


INDIANA.  . 
ILLINOIS.  . 
MICHIGAN. 
IOWA. 

WISCONSIN. 


Messrs.  Collamer,  Henry,  and  Marsh    .      ^V*'  .     3 
"     Dixon,  Hubbard,  Rockwell,  and  Smith    .'-  ^4 

"     Cranston  and  Thurston 2 

"  Blackmer,  Conger,  Gott,  Greeley,  Hall, 
Holmes,  Kellogg,  W.  T.  Lawrence,  Sid 
ney,  Lawrence,  Lord,  McMellan,  Mar 
vin,  Mullen,  Nelson,  Petrie,  Putnam, 
Reynolds,  Ramsey,  St.  John,  Silvester, 
Slingerland,  Starkweather,  Tallmadge, 

Warren,  and  White 26 

"     Dickinson  and  Gregory 2 

"     Blanchard,    Eckhart,    Friedly,    Strohm, 

Thompson,  and  Willmot 6 

"     Canby,  Farran,  Giddings,  Lahm,  Morris, 

Root,  Sawyer,  Taylor,  and  Yinton  .     .     9 

"     Dunn  and  Embree 2 

Mr.Wentworth 1 

"    Stuart •   .     .     .     1 

"    Thompson 1 

"    Darling  1 


Some  members  doubtless  voted  differently,  from  the  dictates  of  their 
own  judgments,  believing  their  people  differed  from  them  ;  but  this  vote 
was  probably  a  fair  representation  of  the  popular  voice.  It  was  the 
opinion  of  candid  statesmen,  that  sixty-nine  out  of  every  ninety-one 
inhabitants  of  the  free  States  would  then  have  abolished  slavery  and  the 
slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  our  Territories,  and  upon  the 
high  seas,  had  they  possessed  the  power.  But  every  member  from  the 
slave  States  was  in  favor  of  prostituting  the  power  of  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  to  uphold  the  institution  and  its  attendant  commerce  in  human 
flesh. 

On  the  18th  December,  the  writer  asked  leave  to  introduce  a  bill  au 
thorizing  the  people  of  the  District  to  express  by  ballot  their  desire  as 
to  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Leave  was  granted  ;  the  bill  passed  its  first 
and  second  reading,  but  on  the  question  of  engrossment,  Mr.  Tompkins, 
of  Tennessee,  discovered  that  it  gave  the  negro  an  opportunity  for 
saying  whether  he  desired  to  be  held  in  bondage.  Southern  slavehold 
er.-  became  .excited,  and  northern  conservatives  were  alarmed,  and  the 
bill  "vvas  laid  on  the  table  by  a  large  majority. 

The  object  of  these  movements  was,  to  inform  the  people  of  the  free 
States  that  they  were  involved  in  the  crimes  and  disgrace  of  maintain- 


286  ME.  GOTT'S  RESOLUTION. 

ing  slavery  and  the  slave  trade.     For  that  purpose,  Mr.  Gott,  of  New 
York,  introduced  the  following  preamble  and  resolution  : 

"  Whereas  the  traffic  now  prosecuted  in  the  metropolis  of  this  repub 
lic,  in  human  beings  as  chattels,  is  contrary  to  justice  and  the  fundamen 
tal  principles  of  our  political  system,  and  is  notoriously  a  reproach  to 
our  country  throughout  Christendom,  and  a  serious  hindrance  to  the 
progress  of  republican  liberty  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  ;  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  be  instructed  to  re 
port  a  bill  soon  as  practicable,  prohibiting  the  slave  trade  in  said  Dis 
trict."  The  mover  demanded  the  previous  question.* 

Mr.  Harrolson,  of  Georgia,  moved  to  lay  the  resolution  on  the  table  ; 
but  Mr.  Tenable,  of  North  Carolina,  also  a  slaveholder,  declared  that  he 
wished  to  see  northern  Whigs  and  northern  Democrat-s  constrained  to 
show  their  hands,  to  let  the  country  see  how  they  voted.  He  hoped  that 
southern  men  would  vote  against  laying  on  the  table.  This  proposition 
was  most  heartily  responded  to  by  every  "  Free-soiler."  The  motion  to 
lay  the  resolution  on  the  table  was  negatived,  and  the  demand  for  the 
previous  question  was  sustained.  This  brought  the  House  to  a  direct 
vote,  constraining  every  member  to  put  his  name  on  record  in  favor  of 
the  domestic  slave  trade  or  against  it. 

Consternation  rested  upon  the  countenances  of  northern  conservatives, 
as  they  called  themselves  ;  but  in  common  parlance,  they  were  more 
generally  known  as  "dough-faces." 

The  advocates  of  freedom  had  long  desired  to  bring  before  the  public 
the  name  of  every  man  who  was  willing  to  court  southern  favor  by  con 
tinuing  to  involve  the  people  of  the  free  States  in  crimes  which  were 
pronounced  "piracy"  when  committed  on  the  African  coast  ;  and  now 
they  were  about  to  attain  that  object. 

The  members  from  the  slave  States,  without  exception,  voted  against 
the  adoption  of  the  resolution  ;  while  those  of  the  free  States  voted  as 
follows  : 

MAINE.     Yea — Mr.  Belcher, 1 

Nay — Messrs.  Clark,  Hammons,  Smart,  Wiley,  and  Wil 
liams, 5 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.     Yea — Messrs.  Johnson,  Peaslee,  Tuck,  and 

Williams, 4 

Nay — none. 

*  Fifteen  years  after  this  effort  of  one  of  the  distinguished  sons  of  New  York  to  lustrate  the  peo 
ple  from  the  disgrace  and  guilt  of  sustaining  this  "  execrable  commerce  in  human  flesh,"  Governor 
Seymour,  of  that  State,  characterized  these  acts  as  interfering  with  the  rights  of  the  South.  (  Vide 
his  first  Message.) 


THE   VOTE.  287 

MASSACHUSETTS.     Yea — Messrs.  Abbott,  Ashman,  Grinnell,  Hall, 

Hudson,  Palfrey,  King,  and  Rockwell, 8 

Nay — none. 
KHODE  ISLAND.     Yea — Messrs.  Cranston  and  ThuVston,     ...     2 

Nay — none. 
CONNECTICUT.     Yea — Messrs.  Dixon,  Hubbard,  and  Rockwell,     .     3 

Nay — none. 

VERMONT.     Yea — Messrs.  Collamer,  Marsh,  and  Peck,    ....     3 
NEW  YORK.     Yea — Messrs.  Blackmer,  Conger,    Gott,    Greeley, 
Hall,  Holmes,  Hunt,  Kellogg,  Lord,  Lawrence,  Law 
rence,    Mc'Clelland,    Marvin,   Mullen,  Nicol,    Putnam, 
Rose,  Rumsey,  St.  John,  Sherril,  Silvester,  Slingerland, 
Starkweather,  Warren,  White,  and  Reynolds,      .     .     .26 
Nay — none. 
NEW  JERSEY.     Yea — Messrs.    Gregory,   Hampton,  Newal,  and 

Vandyke, 4 

Nay — none. 

PENNSYLVANIA.     Yea — Messrs.  Blanchard,  Butler,  Dickeyj  Far- 
relly,  Friedly,  Hampton,  J.  R.  Ingersoll,  Irwiu,  Mcll- 

vain,  Mann,  Pollock,  Strohm, 12 

Nay — Messrs.  Bridges,  Brown,  and  C.  I.  Ingersoll,  ...     3 
OHIO.     Yea — Messrs.  Canby,  Crowell,  Cummins,  Dickinson,  Ed 
wards,  Evans,  Farran,  Fisher,  Fries,  Giddings,  Lahm, 

Morris,  Richey,  Root,  and  Vinton,     .         15 

Nay — Messrs.  Kennon,  Miller,  and  Sawyer, 3 

INDIANA.     Yea — Messrs.  Cathcart,  Embree,  Henley,  Petit,  Rob- 

binson,  and  Rockhill, 6 

Nay — Mr.  Dunn, 1 

ILLINOIS.     Yea — Messrs.  Smith,  Turner,  and  Wentworth,  ...     3 
Nay — Messrs.  Ficklin,  Lincoln,  and  McClernand,     ...     3 

MICHIGAN.     Yea — Messrs.  Stuart,-and  Bingham, 2 

Nay — none. 

WISCONSIN.     Aye — Messrs.  Darling  and  Lynde, 2 

Nay — none. 

IOWA.     Aye — Messrs.  Leffler  and  Thompson, 2 

On  this  vote  the  free  States  cast  ninety-four  votes  for  the  abolition  of 
the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  but  fifteen  in  favor  of 
continuing  to  involve  themselves  and  constituents  in  the  support  of  that 
barbarous  traffic.  The  members  from  the  slave  States,  sixty-seven  in 
number,  voted  unanimously  in  favor  of  continuing  this  relic  of  a  more 
barbarous  age. 


288  CASE   OF   LOUIS   PACHEOO. 

New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Yer- 
mont,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Iowa,  voted 
unanimously  for  its  abolition.  Maine  gave  five  votes,  Pemxsylvania, 
Ohio  and  Illinois  each  gave  three  votes,  and  Indiana  one  vote,  to  con 
tinue  the  sale  of  men  and  women  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  The 
final  vote  stood  94  in  the  affirmative,  and  88  in  the  negative — nearly  fifty 
members  not  voting.  Indeed,  the  attention  of  the  House  was  particu 
larly  called  to  Messrs.  Truman  Smith,  of  Connecticut,  and  Caleb  B. 
Smith,  of  Indiana,  who  were  in  their  seats,  but  apparently  unwilling  to 
vote  either  for  against  the  resolution. 

Wire-working  politicians  appeared  to  be  alarmed  at  this  vote.  Mr. 
Stuart,  of  Michigan,  moved  a  reconsideration  ;  and  after  many  incidental 
motions  and  delays,  the  vote  was  reconsidered,  by  119  to  81.  Messrs. 
Caleb  B.  Smith,  of  Indiana,  and  Truman  Smith,  of  Connecticut,  who 
were  in  their  seats,  but  did  not  vote  on  adopting  the  resolution,  now 
voted  for  its  reconsideration.  Some  twenty  other  members  who  failed 
to  vote,  on  adopting  the  resolution,  now  voted  for  reconsidering  it. 
While  Messrs.  Grinnell,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Lord,  Nicol,  and  Tallmadge, 
of  New  York  ;  YanDyke,  of  New  Jersey;  Butler,  Pollock,  and  Thomp 
son,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Canby,  Taylor,  and  Yinton,  of  Ohio,  changed 
their  votes  ;  having  voted  for  the  resolution,  they  now  voted  to  recon 
sider. 

The  resolution  being  reconsidered,  passed  into  the  orders  of  the  day, 
and  was  no  more  heard  from. 

1849 ,  But  the  slave  power,  no  way  daunted  by  these  manifestations, 
appeared  determined  to  constrain  members  to  admit  that  "  slaves 
were  properly ;"  although  that  idea  had  been  repudiated  by  the  conven 
tion  that  framed  the  Constitution  and  rejected  as  often  as  it  had  been 
presented  to  the  consideration  of  Congress,  slaveholders  constantly  as 
serted  and  reasserted  the  revolting  dogma  that  men  created  in  the  image 
of  God,  with  intellects  clustering  with  immortal  hopes,  were  property ; 
and  northern  conservatives  had  caught  up  the  disgusting  phrase,  and 
constantly  repeated  "  slaves  are  property  ;"  while  the  advocates  of  human 
rights  denounced  the  doctrine  as  barbarous  and  infidel  in  character. 

The  case  was  one  of  unusual  interest.  In  December,  1835,  Major 
Dade,  while  lying  at  "  Fort  Brooke,"  near  Tampa.  Bay  in  Florida, 
with  his  battalion  of  regular  troops,  was  ordered  to  Fort  King,  one  hun 
dred  and  thirty  miles  in  a  north-easterly  direction  through  an  unbroken 
forest.  Neither  Dade  nor  any  of  his  officers  was  acquainted  with  the 
road,  and  he  sought  a  guide  to  conduct  them  on  their  way.  He  was 
told  that  a  slave  named  "  Louis,"  belonging  to  a  man  named  Pacheco, 


DADE'S  MASSACRE.  289 

was  well  acquainted  with  the  proposed  route.  On  examining  Louis,  he 
found  him  remarkably  intelligent,  speaking  four  languages  with  facility, 
well  bred  and  apparently  the  very  man  he  wanted.  By  contract  with 
the  master  he  was  employed  at  twenty-eight  dollars  per  month. 

Louis,  conscious  that  the  Maroons,  who  had  for  nearly  a  century  suf 
fered  persecution  at  the  hands  of  the  white  people,  were  desirous  of 
opening  the  second  Florida  war  by  some  important  blow  that  should 
give  them  influence  with  the  Indians,  gave  them  notice  of  the  time  that 
Dade  was  to  start  from  Fort  Brooke  and  the  route  he  was  to  travel. 
The  Maroons  made  the  necessary  arrangements,  and  inviting  a  certain 
number  of  Indians  to  attend  them,  encamped  on  an  island  in  the  Wahoo 
Swamp,  three  miles  from  where  Dade  and  his  troops  bivouacked  on  the 
night  of  the  fourth  day  from  Fort  Brooke  ;  and  on  the  fatal  28th 
December,  A.D.  1835,  massacred  the  battalion,  only  two  of  the  whole 
number  escaping.  Louis  was  with  the  troops  a  few  minutes  before  they 
were  fibred  upon,  but  after  the  massacre  was  consummated  he  united  his 
fortunes  with  an  Indian  chief  called  "  Wildcat,"  and  with  him  was  in 
almost  every  battle  of  the  Florida  war,  until  the  convention  between 
General  Jessup  and  the  Indians  in  1837,  by  which  that  officer  agreed  to 
protect  the  Seminoles,  who  should  surrender  for  emigration,  and  their 
property. 

Soon  after  that  arrangement  was  made,  Wildcat  appeared  in  General 
Jessup's  camp  with  Louis,  whom  he  claimed  to  hold  as  his  own  property, 
declaring  that  he  captured  him  at  Dade's  massacre. 

The  general  recognizing  the  doctrine  that  ' '  slaves  are  property,"  con 
sidered  the  honor  of  his  Government  pledged,  and  he  sent  Louis  with 
other  negroes  and  Indians  west  of  Arkansas,  to  settle  in  the  Indian 
country. 

Pacheco,  finding  that  his  slave  had  been  sent  to  the  Indian 
country,  presented  his  petition  to  Congress,  asking  that  body  to 
pay  him  for  the  loss  of  his  slave  who  had  caused  the  massacre  of  an  entire 
battalion  of  troops,  besides  the  other  injuries  he  had  done  in  two  years' 
service  with  the  enemies  of  the  country. 

The  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  was  composed  of  five  southern 
and  four  northern  members,  and  the  petition  of  Pacheco  was  referred  to 
that  committee.  The  southern  majority  reported  a  bill,  but  the  northern 
minority  made  a  strong  report  against  the  claim.  This  was  not  usual  in 
that  day  :  but  Mr.  Dickey,  of  Pennsylvania,  presented  a  minority  report, 
which  was  signed  by  himself,  by  Hon.  Dudly  Marvin,  of  New  York, 
Hon.  James  Willson,  of  New  Hampshire,  and  by  Hon.  David  Fisher,  of 
Ohio. 

19 


290  BOLD    ATTEMPT   AT   FKAUD. 

Mr.  Dickey  led  in  the  debate,  urging  that  slaves  were,  not  property. 
Mr.  Burt,  of  South  Carolina,  called  him  to  order  for  discussing  slavery : 
but  southern  members  were  not  long  in  discovering  that  when  they  called 
on  Congress  to  pay  for  slaves  who  had  done  the  country  as  much  injury 
as  Louis  had,  northern  members  were  inclined  to  examine  the  real  merits 
of  the  claim.  Mr  Burt  was  bold  and  manly,  declaring  the  only  question 
that  could  arise  in  the  case  was  that  proposed  by  Mr.  Dickey,  that  slaves 
were  or  were  not  property.  Mr.  Collamer,  of  Vermont,  inquired  whether 
other  questions  were  not  involved.  Mr.  Burt  replied  that  he  would 
leave  no  other  loophole  for  gentlemen  to  escape.  After  debate  the  vote. 
was  taken  in  committee  and  stood,  for  the  bill  seventy,  against  it  forty- 
four.  When  it  had  been  reported  to  the  House,  Mr.  Crowell,  of  Ohio, 
moved  to  lay  it  on  the  table  ;  but  his  motion  failed,  by  a  vote  of  eighty- 
five  against  sixty-six.  The  bill  was  then  passed  to  its  engrossment, 
when  Mr.  Giddiugs  moved  a  reconsideration,  and  on  that  motion  the  bill 
was  again  debated,  and  the  vote  on  its  passage  was  taken  by  yeas  and 
nays  amidst  the  most  intense  interest. 

The  question  was  vital  to  the  character  of  slavery.  The  bill  had  been 
reported  by  a  leading  slaveholder,  had  been  argued  with  all  the  apparent 
confidence  which  usually  characterized  southern  members  whenever  the 
institution  was  involved :  it  had  also  been  boldly  and  ably  opposed. 
The  doctrine  of  property  in  human  souls  and  bodies  was  denounced  as 
heathenish,  barbarous  and  infidel ;  and  those  who  engaged  in  the  debate 
were  anxious  and  excited. 

As  the  deputy  Clerk,  a  slaveholder,  proceeded  to  call  the  names  of 
members,  it  appeared  that  the  vote  was  to  be  nearly  equal.  Some  mem 
bers  kept  count  for  their  own  satisfaction.  When  the  roll  had  been 
called  through,  the  Clerk  appeared  perplexed  ;  but  after  some  delay, 
handed  his  report  to  the  Speaker,  who  announced  the  vote,  ayes  ninety, 
noes  eighty-nine,  and  as  the  Speaker  then  stated  that  it  became  his  duty 
to  vote  whenever  his  voice  would  change  the  result,  proceeded  to  give  his 
reasons  why  te  should  vote  against  the  bill.  While  doing  this,  the  Clerk 
handed  him  another  report,  when  the  Speaker,  after  looking  at  it,  said 
the  vote  was  reported  ninety-one  in  the  affirmative,  eighty-nine  hi  the 
negative,  and  he  declared  the  bill  carried. 

The  countenance  of  the  Clerk  and  his  manner  was  such  that  members 
were  satisfied  of  the  fraud  which  he  had  thus  attempted  in  the  face  of 
the  House  :  and  Mr.  Dickey  immediately  called  attention  to  what  he 
publicly  characterized  as  the  error  of  the  Clerk,  and  showed  from  the 
record  of  names  and  votes  that  eighty-nine  votes  had  been  recorded 
.against  the  bill,  and  precisely  the  same  number  in  favor  of  it,  while  Mr. 


GUILT   OF   THE   CLERK   EXPOSED.  291 

Farrelly,  of  Pennsylvania,  declared  that  he  had  voted  against  the  bill, 
but  the  Clerk  had  not  entered  his  vote.  Thus  there  had  been  actually 
ninety  votes  given  against  the  passage  of  the  bill  while  only  eighty- nine 
had  been  given  for  it.  On  this  exposure  of  fraud,  the  Speaker  corrected 
the  journal  and  announced  the  bill  as  lost. 

The  supporters  of  slavery  were  mortified  and  depressed  by  this  unex 
pected  result,  which  showed  that  southern  influence  and  party  dictation 
could  no  longer  subject  the  conscience  of  northern  men  to  the  bar 
barous  dogma  that  men  are  property.  The  friends  of  humanity  were 
greatly  cheered  by  this  result.  Of  the  twenty-two  members  from  Ohio 
only  Mr.  Kltchey,  of  Perry  County,  Mr.  Cummins,  of  Tuscarawas,  and 
Mr.  Taylor,  of  Ross,  voted  in  favor  of  the  bill,  while  such  Democrats  as 
Farran,  Fries,  Lahm,  Miller,  Morris,  Sawyer,  and  Starkweather,  voted 
against  it.  No  member  from  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,  Vermont,  New  Jersey,  Michigan,  Wisconsin  or 
Iowa,  voted  with  the  slaveholders.  But  from  Maine,  Messrs.  Clapp, 
Clark,  and  Williams;  from  New  York,  Messrs.  Birdsall,  Maclay,  Murphy, 
Nicoll,  and  Tallmadge  ;  from  Pennsylvania,  Messrs.  Brady,  Bridges, 
Brodhead,  Charles,  Brown,  C.  I.  Ingersoll,  Levin,  and  Moore  ;  from 
Indiana,  Messrs.  Dunn,  R.  W.  Thompson,  and  Wick  ;  and  from  Illinois, 
Messrs.  M'Clernand  and  Richardson,  voted  to  pay  Pacheco  one  thou 
sand  dollars  in  consequence  of  General  Jessup's  having  sent  a  most 
dangerous  enemy  out  of  Florida. 

To  ease  off  the  blow  thus  directed  at  the  heart  of  the  peculiar  insti 
tution,  a  motion  was  made  to  reconsider  the  vote,  and  after  searching 
the  city,  one  hundred  a,ud  five  members  were  persuaded  to  vote  for  the 
bill,  while  only  ninety-five  opposed  it ;  but  although  it  actually  passed  the 
House,  the  feeling  against  it  was  so  strong  that  its  friends  never  brought 
it  before  the  Senate  for  action,  and  the  claim  was  never  renewed.* 

In  this  debate  an  important  principle  was  fully  admitted  by  the  ad 
vocates  of  slavery.  No  one  denied  that  a  commanding  general  or 
executive  officer  in  time  of  war  may  capture,  emancipate,  or  send 
out  of  the  country  any  or  all  slaves  that  he  may  deem  necessary  for  the 
public  safety.  They  admitted  the  power  of  General  Jessup  to  capture 
and  send  Louis  out  of  the  country,  and  sustained  the  doctrine  of  Gen 
eral  Jackson,  practised  at  New  Orleans  in  1814. 

In  January,  Mr.  Dix,  of  New  York,  presented  to  the  Senate      r1849 
resolutions  of  the  Legislature  of  that  State,  declaring  that  for  the 
United  States  to  permit  slavery  to  exist  in  New  Mexico  was  revolting 
to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  instructing  their  Senators  to  oppose  its 

*  Vide  "  Exiles  of  Florida,"  p.  106. 


292          ISSUE   BETWEEN   NEW   YORK   AND   SOUTH   CAROLINA. 

existence  therein.  The  resolutions  also  instructed  the  Senators  of  that 
State  to  use  their  best  efforts  to  prevent  the  jurisdiction  of  Texas  from 
extending  beyond  the  Nueces,  and  to  preserve  the  territory  between  the 
Nueces  and  Rio  Grande  to  freedom. 

These  resolutions  were  regarded  as  offensive  to  southern  Senators, 
some  of  whom  objected  to  them  as  unworthy  of  that  ordinary  respect 
which  was  usually  extended  to  the  resolves  of  sovereign  States  ;  and  an 
angry  debate  arose,  in  which  New  York  and  other  free  States  were 
treated  with  disrespect  and  referred  to  with  arrogant  conttmpt  ;  but 
the  resolutions  were  finally  ordered  to  be  printed. 
•  A  few  days  subsequently,  Mr.  Wallace,  of  South  Carolina,  presented 
to  the  House  of  Representatives  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Legislature 
of  that  State,  declaring  that  the  time  for  discussing  the  exclusion  of 
South  Carolina  from  her  equal  share  in  the  Territories  was  passed,  and 
that  her  "  people  were  prepared  to  unite  with  their  sister  States  in 
resisting  the  application  of  the  '  Wilmot  Proviso '  to  such  territory  at  any 
<md  at  all  hazards." 

It  was  understood  that  these  resolutions  were  intended  as  an  answer 
and  a  defiance  to  the  doctrines  asserted  by  the  Legislature  of  New 
York,  and  these  two  States  were  the  first  to  form  a  distinct  issue  upon 
the  subject  of  freedom  in  our  Territories. 

In  presenting  the  resolutions  of  South  Carolina,  Mr.  Wallace  re 
marked  that  his  State  had  deliberately  taken  her  position,  which  she 
would  not  abandon. 

This  issue  was  regarded  as  most  important  at  that  time,  as  the  vast 
territory  acquired  from  Mexico  was  to  be  organized  immediately  with  or 
without  slavery.  The  people  of  New  York  had  declared  through  their 
Legislature  that  it  would  be  "revolting  to  the  spirit  of  the  age  for  Con 
gress  to  permit  slavery  to  be  introduced  into  that  territory  which  was  then 
free;"  and  South  Carolina  declared  that  her  people  "  would  not  debate  that 
question,  but  would  RESIST  it."  Thus  was  the  subject  of  slavery  extension, 
or  resistance  and  rebellion  by  South  Carolina,  presented  to  the  consider 
ation  of  Congress  in  1849.  It  overshadowed  all  other  subjects. 

During  the  early  part  of  this  session  the  Senate  were  engaged  in 
devising  means  to  avoid  the  very  issue  which  was  now  pressed  upon 
Congress.  This  issue  had  been  foreseen  and  repeatedly  foretold  by  the 
friends  of  freedom,  while  the  annexation  of  Texas  was  a  pending  ques 
tion.  It  was  often  repeated  during  the  Mexican  war  ;  and  they  had 
constantly  done  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  it.  But  the  Government 
had  been  precipitated  step  by  step,  first  into  the  policy  of  obtaining 
Texas,  next  the  Mexican  war,  next  the  acquisition  of  Mexican  territory, 


THE   GKEAT   ISSUE   MADE   UP.  293 

until  the  mighty  issue  which  was  to  decide  the  fate  of  slavery,  and  of 
the  Government,  seemed  to  stare  them  in  the  face.  One  and  only  one 
circumstance  appeared  to  encourage  the  slave  power  :  The  influence  of 
the  slave  States  had  prevailed  on  every  question  touching  the  extension 
of  slavery  which  had  arisen  since  1193.  It  had  subjected  our  own  Gov 
ernment  to  its  control ;  and  England  too  had  become  tributary  to  its 
interest,  while  France  had  silently  stood  with  folded  arms,  and  looked 
upon  the  dismemberment  of  Mexico  without  objection,  or  the  utterance  of 
a  protest.  But  the  advocates  of  justice  and  truth  stood  undaunted,  and 
were  ready  for  the  contest. 

The  first  day  of  the  session  on  which  resolutions  were  in  order,  Hon. 
Joseph  M.  Root,  of  Ohio,  presented  to  the  House  the  following  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Territories  be  instructed  to  pre 
sent  to  this  House  with  as  little  delay  as  practicable,  a  bill  or  bills  pro 
viding  territorial  governments  for  each  of  the  territories  of  New  Mexico 
and  California,  and  excluding  slavery  therefrom." 

The  presentation  of  this  resolution  constrained  members  of  all  parties 
from  the  North  and  from  the  South  to  a  consideration  of  the  pending 
issue,  the  magnitude  of  which  but  few  statesmen  then  appeared  to 
comprehend. 

Mr.  Hall,  of  Missouri,  moved  to  lay  the  -resolution  on  the  table.  This 
motion,  if  successful,  would  have  consigned  the  resolution  to  perpetual 
silence.  The  yeas  and  nays  were  ordered,  and  while  the  Clerk  called 
the  names  and  recorded  the  votes,  members  listened  with  great  attention 
and  solemnity,  and  the  voice  of  some  trembled  with  emotion  as  they 
responded  to  the  call,  and  gave  utterance  to  the  vote  which  was  to  con 
sign  a  vast  territory  to  slavery,  or  preserve  it  to  Christian  civilization. 
It  were  useless  to  repeat  names.  Every  member  from  the  slave  States 
gave  his  voice  in  favor  of  laying  the  resolution  on  the  table,  and  were 
aided  by  Messrs.  Charles  Brown  and  C.  I.  Ingersoll,  of  Pennsylvania  ; 
Clapp,  of  Maine  ;  Kennon,  Miller  and  Sawyer,  of  Ohio  ;  Ficklin,  Mc- 
Clernand  and  Richardson,  of  Illinois  ;  and  Van  Dyke,  of  New  Jersey. 
These  ten  members  from  the  free  States  belonged  to  the  democratic 
party,  and  swelled  the  affirmative  vote,  including  southern  members, 
to  80. 

All  members  from  the  free  States,  except  those  designated,  voted 
against  laying  the  resolution  upon  the  table,  and  the  motion  was 
defeated  by  107  to  80. 

The  question  now  recurred  upon  seconding  the  demand  for  the  previous 
question  which  had  been  called  by  Mr.  Root.  At  this  moment,  Mr. 
Yinton,  of  Ohio,  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means — a 


294  SENATOR   DOUGLAS   ATTEMPTS   EVASION. 

man  of  influence  with  the  whig  party — began  to  falter.  He  inquired 
whether  the  resolution  was  peremptory,  or  whether  it  directed  the  Com 
mittee  on  Territories  merely  to  inquire  into  the  propriety  of  excluding 
slavery  from  those  Territories  ?  The  Speaker  replied  that  it  was 
peremptory,  ordering  the  committee  to  report  such  bills  as  early  as  prac 
ticable.  Mr.  Vinton  then  said  he  hoped  the  previous  question  would 
not  be  sustained.  This  indication  of  an  unmanly  disposition  to  surrender 
the  question  by  a  leading  member  from  Ohio,  was  listened  to  with  pain 
and  disgust  by  the  friends  of  liberty  ;  but  every  member  who  had  voted 
against  laying  the  resolution  on  the  table,  now  voted  to  second  the 
demand  for  the  previous  question,  except  Mr.  Vinton,  and  the  resolution 
was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  106  ayes  to  80  noes. 

A  motion  was  next  made  by  Mr.  Robbinson,  of  Indiana,  to  reconsider 
this  vote.  The  discussion  on  this  motion  came  up  for  debate  a  few  days 
afterwards,  and  it  was  laid  on  the  table  by  105  ayes  to  83  nays. 
1849 ,  The  subject  of  slavery  now  entered  into  the  debates  whenever 
the  House  went  into  committee  on  the  state  of  the  Union,  where 
each  speaker  was  allowed  to  select  his  own  subject. 

While  the  House  was  devoting  its  time  and  energies  to  the  discussion 
of  slavery  in  all  its  various  phases,  Senators  were  not  idle  spectators  of 
passing  events.  On  the  first  day  of  the  session,  ^  Mr.  Douglas,  of 
Illinois,  gave  notice  of  his  intention  to  introduce  bills  to  organize  terri 
torial  governments  in  Minnesota,  Nebraska  and  New  Mexico,  and  a  bill 
to  admit  California  as  a  State. 

On  the  llth  he  introduced  a  bill  declaring  California  one  of  the  States 
of  the  Union,  without  referring  to  the  subject  of  slavery.  The  bill  was 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Territories,  of  which  Mr.  Douglas  was 
chairman,  and  reported  back  without  amendment.  It  contained  one  of 
the  grossest  frauds  ever  perpetrated  upon  a  free  people.  It  provided 
that  all  laws  of  the  United  States  not  inapplicable  should  extend  over 
and  be  in  force  in  the  contemplated  State.  Had  the  bill  been  adopted, 
this  provision  would  have  extended  the  domestic  slave  trade,  authorized 
by  the  8th,  9th  and  10th  sections  of  the  law  of  1807,  over  the  new 
State,  and  the  designs  of  the  slave  power  in  obtaining  the  territory 
would  have  been  attained,  inasmuch  as  the  laws  authorizing  the  trans 
portation  and  sale 'of  slaves  in  California  would  have  been  construed  to 
authorize  the  holding  of  them  in  bondage  while  there. 

As  the  subject  was  debated  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  members 
became  more  bold  and  more  earnest  in  favor  of  free  soil  and  free  men. 
This  gave  evident  pain  to  southern  Senators.  Mr.  Calhoun  spoke  des- 
pondingly.  Other  Senators  from  slave  States  resorted  to  intimidation  ; 


HIS    SECOND   ATTEMPT   AT   FKAUD. 


295 


but  Messrs.  Hale  and  Baldwin  steadily  and  .firmly  vindicated  the  doc 
trines  of  human  freedom,  giving  conclusive  evidence  that  they  were  not 
to  be  moved  from  the  position  which  they  had  taken  upon  the  attribute 
of  liberty. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  friends  of  justice,  aided  by  the 
great  body  of  the  whig  party,  steadily  pressed  the  subject  with  deter 
mined  purpose.  Southern  members  threatened  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  Northern  members  retorted  in  bold  defiance.  Some  northern 
Whigs  faltered,  but  in  return  were  greeted  with  sneers  of  contempt  for 
their  moral  cowardice. 

The  Senate  had  always  been  and  then  was  more  subservient  to  the 
slave  power  than  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  that  body  appeared 
entirely  incapable  of  agreeing  upon  any  definite  course  of  action. 

Mr.  Douglas  reported  another  bill,  differing  somewhat  from  the  one 
which  he  at  first  introduced,  but  retaining  the  objectionable  feature  in 
regard  to  slavery.  The  fraud  which  lurked  under  that  feature  of  the 
bill  had  been  unveiled  to  the  public  by  the  friends  of  liberty,  and  this 
attempt  to  subserve  the  cause  of  human  bondage  now  operated  as  a  dead 
weight,  retarding  instead  of  accelerating  the  passage  of  the  bill.  Almost 
every  slaveholder  and  northern  supporter  of  the  institution,  now  had  a  plan 
of  his  own  by  which  he  appeared  to  think  he  could  entice  northern  poli 
ticians  to  lend  their  moral  and  political  influence  to  extend  and  per 
petuate  the  institution  of  human  bondage. 

In  the  House  various  propositions  to  avoid  all  reference  to  slavery 
and  admit  California  as  a  slave  State  were  presented  ;  but  their  real 
character  was  invariably  developed  and  exposed.  Slaveholders  and 
Democrats  complained  that  the  friends  of  liberty  were  constantly  agit- 
ting  the  questions  of  freedom  and  slavery  :  to  which  the  Free-soilers 
replied,  "  we  opposed  the  annexation  of  Texas  ;  we  opposed  the  Mexican 
war  ;  we  opposed  the  conquest  of  territory  in  order  to  avoid  these  irri 
tating  subjects  ;  but  slaveholders  and  the  democratic  party  forced  them 
upon  us  ;  we  have  been  driven  to  the  wall,  and  now  we  are  constrained 
to  vindicate  ourselves,  by  extending  civilization  wherever  our  flag  shall 
float." 

On  the  19th  February,  Hon.  Caleb  B.  Smith,  of  Indiana,  moved  to 
make  the  bills  organizing  territorial  governments  in  California  and  New 
Mexico  the  special  order  of  each  and  of  every  day  until  disposed  of. 
The  motion  was  sustained,  and  reluctant  members  now  saw  clearly  that 
prompt  and  efficient  action  was  determined  on  by  a  majority  of  the 
body. 

The  House  had  passed  the  ordinary  bill  providing  for  the  civil  and 


296  WALKER'S  CELEBRATED  AMENDMENT. 

diplomatic  expenses  of  Government,  and  had  sent  it  to  the  Senate  for 
concurrence.  On  the  20th,  Mr.  Walker,  a  Democrat,  of  Wisconsin, 
offered  to  the  consideration  of  the  Senate  his  celebrated  amendment, 
providing  that  all  acts  of  Congress  for  registering,  licensing  or  enrolling 
ships  or  vessels  of  the  United  States,  should  extend  over  the  territory 
of  California  ;  and  giving  the  President  authority  to  establish  a  terri 
torial  government  therein.  This  proposition  also  in  latent  form  extended 
the  coastwise  slave  trade  to  California,  although  but  few  members  dis 
covered  it  upon  a  casual  reading. 

This  mode  of  deception  had  long  been  practised  by  the  slave  power, 
and  northern  members  had  been  slew  to  expose  it,  when  discovered. 
1849.]  On  the  22d  February,  Mr.  Webster,  of  Massachusetts,  pro 
posed  an  amendment,  simply  authorizing  the  President  to  hold 
possession  of  California  and  New  Mexico,  and  to  protect  the  inhabitants 
in  the  enjoyment  of  liberty  and  property.  The  amendment  of  Mr. 
Walker,  however,  was  debated  until  the  26th  February,  when  it  was 
adopted  in  the  Senate  by  a  majority  of  two  votes,  members  voting 
generally  with  their  political  parties.  On  the  following  day  the  House 
resumed  the  consideration  of  the  bill  to  organize  a  territorial  government 
in  California,  and  after  a  severe  contest,  members  were  brought  to  a 
final  vote  upon  its  passage,  and  it  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  126  to 
87  ;  every  member  from  the  slave  States  voting  against  the  bill,  aided 
by  Messrs.  Bridges,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Kennon,  Milfer  and  Sawyer,  of 
Ohio  ;  while  every  other  member  from  the  free  States  voted  in  favor  of 
its  passage.  It  was  sent  to  the  Senate  for  concurrence ;  and  on  the 
following  day  that  body  took  it  up  for  consideration,  and  it  was  read  a 
first  and  second  time  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Territories,  and 
was  no  more  heard  from. 

The  civil  and  diplomatic  bill  was  returned  to  the  House  with  several 
amendments,  which  the  House  immediately  referred  to  its  appropriate 
committee,  who  reported  it  back,  with  a  recommendation  to  strike  out 
the  amendment  of  the  Senate  organizing  a  government  in  California 
which  extended  the  coastwise  slave  trade  to  that  territory,  and  to  insert 
an  amendment  simply  authorizing  the  President  to  hold  the  territory  and 
protect  the  people  in  the  enjoyment  of  liberty  and  property. 

The  two  Houses  w.ere  now  at  a  dead  lock.  The  Senate  was  in  favor 
of  slavery  in  California,  and  the  House  opposed  it.  It  was  Friday,  2d 
March,  and  the  Congress  was  to  close  on  the  3d,  by  operation  of  the 
Constitution.  The  mass  of  unfinished  business  before  each  House  forbade 
debate  :  yet  the  feelings  of  the  advocates  of  liberty  had  become  intense, 
while  the  supporters  of  slavery  were  still  more  excited.  The  magnitude 


EXECUTIVE   INFLUENCE   FOR   SLAVERY.  297 

of  the  issue  appeared  more  sublime  as  members  approached  the  moment 
of  decision. 

The  report  of  the  committee  upon  the  amendment  of  the  Senate  to 
the  civil  and  diplomatic  bill  was  taken  up  for  consideration  in  the  House. 
That  body  agreed  to  the  report  striking  out  the  Senate's  amendment, 
but  disagreed  to  so  much  as  recommended  the  insertion  of  the  amendment 
proposed  by  the  committee  :  and  the  bill  was  returned  to  the  Senate, 
with  the  amendment  inserted  by  that  body  simply  stricken  out.  This 
was  the  condition  of  the  question  at  the  hour  of  adjournment  on  the  2d 
March,  while  only  one  day  of  the  thirtieth  Congress  remained  for  the 
disposition  of  the  business  before  it. 

On  the  morning  of  the  last  day  of  the  session,  the  cry  was  raised  that 
the  friends  of  free  soil  in  the  House  of  Representatives  were  intending 
to  defeat  every  measure  for  establishing  a  government  in  California. 
The  incoming  President,  General  Taylor,  his  Cabinet,  and  others,  were 
said  to  have  become  anxious  on  the  subject.*  One  of  his  Cabinet  offi 
cers,  Mr.  Preston,  of  Yirginia,  was  a  member  of  the  House,  and  sat  in 
that  body  on  the  last  day  of  the  session.  Other  members  left  their  quar 
ters  and  appeared  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives,  endeavoring  to  per 
suade  members  to  accept  some  proposition  for  establishing  a  govern 
ment  in  California.  This,  too,  was  done  while  the  bill  for  that  purpose 
had  been  matured  and  passed  by  that  body,  and  was  then  on  the 
table  of  the  Senate,  and  could  have  been  passed  in  five  minutes  had 
Senators  been  willing  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  territory.  Yet  no 
member  of  General  Taylor's  Cabinet,  nor  friend  of  his  Administration, 
has  to  this  day  explained  why  no  efforts  were  made  to  persuade  the 
Senate  to  pass  the  bill  before  it ;  nor  why  they  should  have  been  so 
anxious  to  have  the  House  accept  some  plan  of  the  Senate,  while  that 
body  presented  no  other  proposition  than  one  which  would  have  planted 
the  curse  of  human  bondage  upon  the  soil  of  California. 

When  the  House  assembled  at  11  o'clock,  the  friends  of  freedom  felt 
less  confident  than  on  the  previous  day.  Suspicions  were  entertained 
that  leading  Whigs  would  surrender  the  question.  Soon  after  the  hour 
of  meeting,  the  Senate  took  up  the  amendment  of  the  House  striking 
out  that  of  the  Senate,  and  disagreeing  thereto,  requested  a  conference. 
The  House  consented  ;  but  the  Committee  of  Conference  could  not  agree, 
and  so  reported  to  the  two  bodies. 

Mr.  McClernand,  of  Illinois,  now  moved  that  the  House  recede  from 
its  amendment  striking  oat  the  Senate's  proposition,  and  the  motion 
prevailed  101  to  107.  This  vote  caused  some  despondency  among  the 

*   Vide  Letter  of  Senator  Sew^rd  to  the  editor  of  the  "  National  Intelligencer,"  March  24th,  1S49. 


LIBEETY    AND    JUSTICE   TRIUMPH. 

friends  of  liberty.  Every  member  from  the  slave  States  voted  for  Me- 
demand's  motion,  aided  by  Messrs.  Clap,  Clark  and  Willy,  of  Maine  ; 
Brady,  Bridges,  Brodbead,  Brown,  Hampton,  J.  R.  Ingersoll,  Irvvin, 
C.  I.  Ingersoll,  Levin,  Stewart  and  Pollock,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Kennon 
and  Sawyer,  of  Ohio  ;  Ficklin,  McClernand  and  Richardson,  of  Illinois. 
Five  of  the  gentlemen  mentioned  from  Pennsylvania  were  Whigs,  active 
friends  of  the  President,  and  their  vote  was  regarded  as  indicative  of  the 
Executive  wishes. 

Mr.  Thompson,  of  Indiana,  moved  to  insert  in  lieu  of  the  Senate's 
amendment  a  proposition  leaving  the  territory  of  California  as  it  was 
before  its  cession  to  the  United  States.  This  made  the  territory  free,  and 
the  amendment  was  adopted  111  to  105,  and  the  bill  was  again  returned 
to  the  Senate,  at  nearly  one  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning,  the  4th  March. 

From  various  quarters  members  were  assured  that  General  Taylor, 
the  President  elect,  was  anxious  that  the  House  should  accept  the 
Senate's  amendment,  and  that  his  influence  had  been  exerted  for  that 
purpose.  But  gentlemen  felt  too  much  self-respect  to  change  position  on 
so  momentous  a  question  thus  suddenly,  while  every  advocate  of  free  soil 
was  active.  Great  excitement  was  manifested  in  all  parts  of  the  hall 
and  in  the  Senate.  Members  of  irregular  habits  had  recourse  to  artificial 
stimulants,  which  rendered  the  scene  more  gloomy. 

The  night  was  dark,  the  city  was  quiet,  and  most  of  the  spectators 
had  left  the  galleries,  while  that  great  battle  for  freedom  in  California 
was  fought  within  the  Hall  of  Representatives,  against  all  the  influence 
of  the  slave  power,  and  the  blandishments  of  Executive  favor,  aided  and 
assisted  by  Senatorial  influence.  It  was  between  three  and  four  o'clock 
on  Sunday  morning,  that  the  Senate  again  took  up  the  last  amendment 
of  the  House  for  consideration. 

Mr.  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  now  moved  that  the  Senate  recede  from  its 
amendment.  His  tone  and  manner  was  subdued.  His  voice  faltered, 
and  he  spoke  with  evident  emotion,  saying  that  it  had  become  evident 
that  the  House  would  not  agree  to  the  Senate's  amendment,  and  that 
he  regarded  it  as  the  duty  of  that  body  to  save  the  bill  and  sustain  the 
Government.  His  motion  was  agreed  to,  the  bill  was  passed  and  signed, 
and  California  was  free. 

This  victory  was  obtained  under  the  force  of  peculiar  circumstances. 
General  Taylor  had  pledged  himself  not  to  interfere  with  the  legislation 
of  Congress  ;  a  man  of  sincere  purposes,  he  abstained  from  interference 
until  the  last  days  of  the  session,  when  it  was  too  late  for  Whigs  who 
entertained  feelings  of  self-respect  to  change  their  position. 

The  whig  party   now   being  in  power,   northern  Democrats  were 


THE   FATAL   BLOW   GIVEN.  299 

willing  that  the  new  Administration  should  incur  what  they  regarded 
as  the  odium  of  maintaining  freedom  in  California.  But  that  triumph 
may  be  said  to  have  defeated  and  demoralized  both  of  the  great  political 
parties  ;  above  all  it  was  a  most  signal  defeat  of  the  slave  power.  Cali 
fornia  and  New  Mexico  had  been  obtained  for  the  purpose  of  extending 
slavery  over  them  ;  and  the  establishing  of  freedom  in  those  territories 
was  a  fatal  blow  to  the  institution,  from  which  it  never  recovered.  And 
its  downfall  may  be  dated  from  that  eventful  night. 


300        CALIFORNIA  REQUESTED  TO  FORM  A  STATE  CONSTITUTION. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

UNPRECEDENTED     CONTEST    FOR     SPEAKER — THE     SPIRIT    OF    DISUNION    DE 

VELOPED THE    CONTEST   UPON   THE  ADMISSION  OF  CALIFORNIA PAYMENT 

OF  THE  DEBTS  OF  TEXAS DEATH  OF  MR.  CALHOUN. 

AT  the  close  of  the  thirtieth  Congress  California  was  left  without  the 
protection  of  law.  Soon  after  the  adjournment  the  President  dispatched 
a  messenger  to  the  people  of  that  territory,  requesting  them  to  form  a 
State  constitution  and  apply  at  an  early  day  of  the  next  Congress  for 
admission  to  the  Union.  It  is  believed  that  he  attempted  to  exercise 
no  influence  in  regard  to  the  adoption  or  repudiation  of  slavery  ;  but 
left  that  question  entirely  with  the  people,  a  policy  which  resulted  ia 
the  adoption  of  a  free  constitution  and  organization  of  a  State  govern 
ment. 

18491  ^  ^e  assem^ling  of  the  thirty-first  Congress  it  was  found 
that  the  members  had  been  elected  from  the  whig  and  democratic 
parties  in  nearly  equal  numbers.  The  practice  of  so  arranging  the  com 
mittees  as  to  silence  the  voice  of  northern  philanthropy  had  been  fully 
maintained  by  the  whig  Speaker  of  the  former  Congress.  The  advocates 
of  justice  and  of  northern  honor  now  determined  that  their  votes  should 
be  cast  for  no  candidate  who  should  refuse  to  pledge  himself  to  abandon 
this  practice,  so  unjust  and  dishonorable. 

Messrs.  Tuck,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Allen,  of  Massachusetts  ;  King, 
of  New  York  ;  Willmot,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Root  and  Giddings,  of 
Ohio  ;  Julian,  of  Indiana,  and  Durkee,  of  Wisconsin,  had  been  elected 
as  advocates  of  constitutional  liberty,  and  were  expected  to  oppose  every 
encroachment  upon  the  constitutional  rights  of  any  portion  of  the 
Union. 

The  policy  had  been  introduced  at  the  commencement  of  the  former 
Congress  by  ^Jessrs.  Palfrey,  Tuck  and  Giddingd,  who  refused  to  vote 
for  the  whig  nominee.  The  same  gentleman  was  again  nominated,  and 
those  opposed  to  his  election  now  numbered  eight  instead  of  three. 
They  boldly  demanded  of  the  candidates  an  avowal  of  principles.  For 
half  a  century  the  great  effort  had  been  to  select  candidates  for  federal 
offices  whose  views  in  regard  to  slavery  were  unknown.  But  these  eight 
members  now  determined  to  vote  for  candidates  whom  they  knew  to  be 


THE   CONTEST   FOR    SPEAKER   COMMENCES.  301 

right,  and  not  for  men  whose  highest  recommendations  were  that  no  one 
knew  whether  they  were  right  or  wrong. 

The  two  great  contending  parties  were  duly  informed  of  this  resolu 
tion,  and  were  assured  that  when  either  should  present  such  a  candidate 
he  should  be  supported  by  the  votes  of  the  gentlemen  named.  It  was 
conceded  that  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  was  necessary  to  elect  a 
Speaker,  and  that  neither  political  party  could  control  that  majority. 

Several  other  members  from  both  political  parties  appeared  anxious  to 
act  with  the  eight  Free-soilers,  as  they  were  called  from  their  advocacy 
of  freedom  to  the  Territories  :  Among  them  Hon.  John  W.  Howe,  of 
Pennsylvania  ;  Governor  Cleveland  and  Hon. Boothe,  of  Connec 
ticut  ;  Hon.  Horace  Mann,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Hon.  Joseph  Cable, 
of  Ohio,  were  prominent. 

At  the  usual  hour  the  House  convened  and  proceeded  to  ballot  for 
Speaker,  and  on  counting  the  votes  it  was  found  that  the  whig  candi 
date,  Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  had  received  96  votes,  Hon.  Howell 
Cobb  had  received  103  votes,  and  Hon.  David  Willmot  had  received  8 
votes. 

There  were  fourteen  votes  cast  for  individuals  who  were  not  candi 
dates. 

Of  these  members  109  had  previously  acted  with  the  whig  party  and 
112  had  previously  acted  with  the  Democrats.  These  facts  clearly  in 
dicated  that  the  Whigs  could  only  hope  for  success  by  putting  in  nomi 
nation  a  candidate  who  should  receive  the  support  of  the  Free-soilers. 

On  the  4th  December,  the  balloting  was  renewed,  but  with  no  better 
success.  Five  ballots  were  cast  without  any  material  change  in  the 
position  of  the  various  candidates  :  And  members  of  the  two  great 
parties  appeared  astonished  at  finding  the  Free-soilers  immovable  in 
the  position  they  had  taken.  The  oldest  members  of  Congress  had 
never  witnessed  such  a  phenomenon,  and  dark  insinuations  were  thrown 
out  against  members  who  would  thus  endanger  the  Union :  But  in 
response  to  these  intimations,  both  of  those  parties  were  assured  that  as 
soon  as  either  should  present  a  candidate  who  was  recognized  as  a  sin 
cere  supporter  of  the  constitutional  right  of  petition,  the  Free-soilers 
would  sustain  him. 

On  the  5th,  three  ballots  only  were  taken  without  arriving  at  any  re 
sults.  Southern  members  had  recourse  to  attempts  at  intimidation,  but 
tlu  Free-soilers  paid  little  attention  to  them. 

On  the  6th,  various  propositions  were  brought  forward,  all  looking  to 
the  appointment  of  a  chairman  as  a  means  by  which  the  friends  of  liberty 
could  be  cheated  into  the  support  of  one  of  the  great  parties,  bat  they 


302  MR.    BROWN    SUPPORTED. 

were  all  voted  down  :  and  the  ballo tings  continued  until  the  10th,  when 
members  appeared  irritated  and  spoke  with  much  apparent  feeling  on 
the  subject.  To  these  manifestations  of  ill-feeling  Mr.  Root,  of  Ohio, 
responded  in  a  vein  of  satirical  humor  that  caused  much  laughter,  while 
he  gave  members  to  understand  very  distinctly  that  the  little  party  with 
whom  he  acted  were  not  likely  soon  to  change  the  position  which  they 
had  assumed. 

Mr.  Sweetzer,  a  Democrat,  of  Ohio,  now  proposed  an  adjournment 
sine  die.  Mr.  Holmes,  of  South  Carolina,  expressed  his  approval,  but 
no  vote  was  taken  upon  it. 

On  the  llth,  the  ballotings  were  continued,  with  no  other  result  than 
the  apparently  satisfactory  conclusion  that  the  small  band  of  Free-soilers 
were  not  disposed  to  aid  the  election  of  a  Speaker  who  would  be  likely 
to  treat  the  petitions  of  the  northern  people  with  disrespect. 

The  39th  ballot  showed  that  William  J.  Brown,  a  Democrat,  of 
Indiana,  had  received  109  votes  out  of  226,  being  a  larger  vote  than 
any  other  candidate  had  received. 

The  whig  candidate,  Mr.  Wiuthrop,  now  rose,  and  with  much  apparent 
emotion  thanked  his  friends  for  their  support,  and  withdrew  his  name 
from  the  list  of  candidates,  and  the  House  adjourned. 

This  was  the  first  instance  in  the  annals  of  American  politics  where  a 
candidate  for  Congressional  honors  had  failed  in  consequence  of  his 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  slavery.  Up  to  this  time  it  had  been  sup 
posed  necessary  for  candidates  to  manifest  their  interest  in  the  institu 
tion  in  order  to  obtain  office,  but  the  policy  was  now-  suddenly  reversed. 
The  incident  was  regarded  with  intense  anxiety,  and  showed  very  clearly 
the  increasing  influence  of  the  advocates  of  freedom.  -..*-.•• 

During  the  evening,  the  little  band  of  Free-soilers  was  informed  that 
Mr.  Brown  was  ready  to  pledge  himself  so  to  arrange  the  committees 
as  to  secure  reports  upon  petitions  concerning  slavery. 

Neither  the  moral  nor  political  character  of  Mr.  Brown  recommended 
him  to  the  favor  of  just  and  honorable  men.  Yet  the  Free-soilers  had 
constantly  assured  the  other  parties,  that  whenever  they  would  select  a 
candidate  pledged  to  arrange  the  committees  of  the  House  so  as  to  secure 
the  right  of  petition,  they  would  vote  for  him  ;  and  now  all  but  Mr. 
Root,  of  Ohio,  and  Mr.  Julian,  of  Indiana,  consented  to  redeem  their 
pledge. 

A  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Wilhnot  and  King,  was  appointed 
to  wait  on  Brown,  and  receive  from  him  the  written  pledge  which  he 
was  said  to  be  prepared  to  give.  He  was  addressed  in  writing  and 
returned  the  following  answer  : 


HIS   PLEDGE.  303 

"WASHINGTON  CITY,  Dec.  10,  1849. 

"  DEAR  SIR, — In  answer  to  yours  of  this  date,  I  will  state  that  should 
I  be  elected  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  I  will  constitute 
the  committees  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  on  the  Territories,  and  on 
the  judiciary,  in  such  manner  as  shall  be  satisfactory  to  yourself  and 
your  friends.  I  am  a  representative  of  a  free  State,  and  have  always 
been  opposed  to  ,the  extension  of  slavery,  and  believe  that  the  Federal 
Government  should  be  relieved  from  the  responsibility  of  slavery  where  they 
have  the  constitutional  power  to  abolish  it. 

"W.  J.  BROWN. 
"  Hon.  DAVID  WILLMOT." 

The  pledge  was  ample,  but  the  character  of  Brown  was  objectionable. 
Mr.  Root  refused  to  sustain  him.  Julian  also  objected,  and  was 
detained  from  the  House  by  indisposition ;  but  Messrs.  Allen,  King, 
Willmot,  Durkee,  Tuck  and  Giddings  felt  it  their  duty  to  live  up  to 
the  assurance  previously  held  out. 

On  the  assembling  of  the  House  next  morning,  there  was  great  ner 
vousness  among  Whigs,  and  the  writer  was  often  inquired  of  whether  he 
intended  to  vote  for  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Brown  ?  To  these  inquiries  he 
replied  that  he  believed  it  a  duty  to  vote  for  Mr.  Brown,  in  order  to 
maintain  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  people,  which  had  been  dis 
regarded  by  the  Speaker  of  the  previous  Congress.  Those  members  who 
made  the  inquiry  admitted  that  the  writer  had  acted  frankly  and  hon 
estly,  but  declared  that  they  had  not  believed  that  he  would  ever  vote 
for  Mr.  Brown. 

The  Whigs  had  elected  their  candidate  to  the  Presidency,  and  could 
have  elected  a  Speaker, 'by  taking  any  member  pledged  to  sustain  the 
constitutional  right  of  petition,  by  a  proper  arrangement  of  committees  ; 
but  they  would  not,  and  now  they  saw  their  party  must  soon  be  dis 
banded. 

An  unusual  solemnity  rested  upon  the  countenances  of  members  as  the 
Clerk,  amidst  the  most  profound  silence,  commenced  calling  the  roll,  and 
whfcn  the  name  of  Charles  Allen  was  called,  and  that  gentleman,  in  his 
own  quiet  tone,  responded  "  William  J.  Brown,"  there  was  a  distinct 
sensation  manifested  throughout  the  hall,  and  it  was  renewed  when 
Charles  Durkee  made  the  same  response  ;  but  a  most  profound  anxiety 
and  deep  interest  was  visible  when  the  Clerk  commenced  calling  the 
names  beginning  with  the  letter  G.,  and  as  the  name  of  Joshua  R.  Gid 
dings  was  called,  and  he  responded  "  William  J.  Brown,"  a  murmuring 
sensation  ran  through  the  hall.  The  fact  that  he  should  vote  for  a 


304  THE   VOTE   AGAINST  BKOWN. 

Democrat  of  Brown's  character  seemed  to  strike  the  Whigs  with  perfect 
astonishment. 

1849 ..          Southern  Democrats  had  watched  the  vote  of  the  Free-soilers 
with  interest,  and  when  Messrs.  Allen,  Dnrkee,  King,  Willmot, 
Tuck  and  Giddings  voted  for  Brown,  several  southern  members  changed 
their  votes,  and  left  Brown  in  a  minority.     The  vote  standing  : 

W.  J.  Brown 112 

William  Duer 26 

Edward  Stanly 18 

Charles  S.  Morehead It 

Robert  C.  Winthrop       It 

Edward  W.  McGaughey     .     .     .     .     13 

and  some  twenty  other  votes  were  cast  for  individuals  who  were  not  can 
didates. 

Brown  had  been  defeated  by  southern  votes,  and  he  felt  the  blow  : 
But  just  at  the  very  moment  when  the  whig  party  should  have  seized 
upon  the  favorable  moment  to  elect  a  Speaker  pledged  to  the  Constitu 
tion,  Mr.  Stanley,  a  Whig,  of  North  Carolina,  offered  a  resolution,  stat 
ing  that — 

"  The  democratic  party  be  requested  to  appoint  three  members  to 
confer  with  three  members  of  the  whig  party  relative  to  the  choice  of 
proper  officers  of  the  House  of  Representatives." 

In  his  address  urging  the  adoption  of  his  resolution,  he  applied  to  the 
Free-soilers  terms  and  epithets  unusual  in  legislative  bodies.  Mr.  Bayley, 
of  Virginia,  a  Democrat,  replied  to  Mr.  Stanley, charging  that  gentleman 
and  the  whig  party  with  electing  a  President  who  had  been  silent,  not 
daring  to  say  anything  on  the  subject  of  slavery  ;  but  leaving  every  man  to 
imagine  that  when  elected  he  would  do  as  each  of  his  supporters  desired. 

But  the  debate  soon  turned  upon  the  correspondence  between  Messrs. 
Willmot  and  Brown.  The  note  of  Mr.  Brown  was  read  publicly  in  the 
House,  and  members  engaged  in  debating  the  extraordinary  circum 
stances,  without  aiming  at  any  particular  object. 

As  the  House  convened  on  the  13th,  members  again  appeared  solemn. 
They  now  seemed  to  realize  that  the  advocates  of  liberty  were  not  to  be 
driven  nor  flattered  from  their  position.  Stanley's  resolution  was 
regarded  as  proof  that  southern  Whigs  were  more  disposed  to  break  up 
the  whig  party  than  permit  it  to  become  the  instrument  of  sustaining 
the  constitutional  right  of  petition  :  and  northern  members  of  the  whig 
organization  appeared  to  feel  that  it  must  be  abandoned.  ]STor  did  it 
recover.  It  had  come  into  power  without  any  avowed  or  definite  prin- 


QUARREL  BETWEEN  MEADE  AND  DUEB.  305 

ciples,  and  at  that  point  its  triumph  ended.  There  being  no  common 
principle  on  which  its  members  could  rally,  the  organization  disbanded, 
and  this  contest  for  Speaker  constituted  its  last  battle-field  ;  and  the 
movement  of  Mr.  Stanley  inflicted  the  fatal  wound  of  which  it  died. 

Mr.  Brown,  of  Mississippi,  offered  a  resolution  declaring  Howell  Cobb, 
of  Georgia,  to  be  Speaker,  and  addressed  members  in  support  of  his  pro 
position.  Other  resolutions  were  offered  and  exciting  speeches  were  de 
livered.  Mr.  Meade,  of  Virginia,  as  if  his  patience  had  been  tried  to 
the  utmost,  declared  himself  ready  to  vote  for  any  man  of  any  party, 
who  would  crush  this  demon  of  discord  now  seeking  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  in  our  Territories  ;  but  if  these 
measures  were  to  be  carried,  he  trusted  in  God  that  he  had  looked  upon 
tJie  last  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

This  distinct  enunciation  of  disunion  sentiments  appeared  to  arouse 
the  patriotic  feelings  of  Mr. 'Duer,  of  New  York,  who  proclaimed  'him 
self  ready  to  vote  for  any  one,  "  a  Whig,  or  Democrat,  or  Free-soiler — 
any  man  except  a  disunionist." 

Mr.  Bayley,  of  Virginia.    "  There  are  no  disunionists  in  this  House." 

Mr.  Duer.    "  I  wish  I  could  think  so,  but  I  fear  there  are." 

Mr.  Bayley.    "  Who  are  they  ?    Point  them  out." 

Mr.  Duer.  "  I  believe  there  are  some  from  your  State  ;  I  think  I  see 
one  of  them  now"  (pointing  towards  Mr.  Meade). 

Mr.  Meade,  in  his  seat.    "  It  is  false." 

Mr.  Duer.    "  You  are  a  liar." 

Meade  now  rushed  at  Duer  :  Duer's  friends  gathered  around  him,  and 
Meade's  friends  rushed  to  him.  Different  voices  mingled  in  angry  tones. 
Profane  curses  and  defiant  imprecations  constituted  the  only  audible  ex 
pressions  uttered  by  the  hostile  parties.  The  Clerk  called  to  order  at 
the  top  of  his  voice  ;  the  Sergeant-at-arms  seized  the  mace  and  bore  it 
into  the  midst  of  the  crowd,  while  excited  voices  from  various  quarters 
bade  him  "  take  away  that  baubk." 

At  length  the  tumultuous  waves  began  to  subside,  and  the  excitement 
gradually  died  away.  Members  came  to  themselves,  and  one  after  an 
other  retired  to  their  seats,  and  when  Mr.  Duer's  voice  could  be  heard, 
he  apologized  to  the  House  for  having  used  language  unbecoming  the 
place.* 

Mr.  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  was  more  honest  than  Meade.  He  was 
vehement  in  his  denunciation  of  Free-soilers  for  taking  advantage  of  this 
occasion  to  promote  their  objects,  saying,  "  I  do  not  hesitate  to  avow 

*  Meade  challenged  Duer  to  mortal  combat  for  thus  charging  him  with  being  a  disunionist  In  1849, 
but  was  one  of  the  first  to  join  the  disunion  rebellion  thirteen  years  afterwards. 

20 


306  DISSOLUTION   THREATENED. 

before  this  House  and  the  country,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  living  God, 
that  if  you  seek  to  drive  us  from  the  territories  of  California  and  New 
Mexico  by  excluding  slavery  therefrom,  and  abolish  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  I  am  for  dissolution." 

Mr.  Duer  now  explained  in  a  very  undignified  manner,  disavowing  any 
intention  to  exclude  slavery  from  California  or  New  Mexico,  or  of  abo 
lishing  it  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  insisted  that  such  imputation 
was  unjust  to  nine-tenths. of  the  people  of  the  free  States. 

Mr.  Inge,  of  Alabama,  inquired  of  Mr.  Duer  if  he  would  vote  for  the 
gentleman  from  Georgia  (Mr.  Toombs). 

Mr.  Duer  replied,  "  I  did  not  understand  the  gentleman  from  Georgia 
to  be  in  favor  of  a  dissolution  except  in  a  certain  contingency,  and  with 
that  understanding  I  would  vote  for  him  if  necessary  to  organize  the 
House.7'* 

Mr.  Baker,  of  Illinois,  declared  that  the  people  hac^the  right  to  ex 
clude  slavery  from  California  and  New  Mexico,  and  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia,  if  they  desired,  and  such  exclusion  would  afford  no  cause  for 
.dissolution.^ 

Mr.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  declared  that  he  approved  of  every  word 
that  his  colleague,  Mr.  Toombs,  had  uttered,  and  assured  northern  men 
that  whenever  southern  institutions  were  invaded  outside  of  slave  States, 
either  in  the  Territories  or  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  the  Union  would 
be  dissolved. J 

Mr.  Cleveland,  of  Connecticut,  in  a  very  cool  and  sensible  manner, 
assured  southern  gentlemen  that  the  people  were  free,  and  would  exer 
cise  the  rights  of  freemen  wherever  they  had  the  constitutional  autho 
rity  to  do  so. 

Mr.  Colcock,  of  South  Carolina,  agreed  with  Messrs.  Toombs  and 
Stephens,  that  the  Union  would  be  dissolved  whenever  slavery  should  be 
excluded  from  our  Territories  or  from  the  District  of  Columbia. 
1849  -j  Mr.  Allen,  of  Massachusetts,  with  dignity  of  manner  and  great 
force  of  argument,  defended  the  course  of  the  Free-soilers,  and  in 
chaste  and  dignified  language  exposed  the  threats  and  supercilious  bear 
ing  of  southern  members.  The  debate  continued  to  a  late  hour,  and 
very  fully  and  clearly  manifested  the  mortification  and  disappointment 

*  Mr.  Toombs,  probably,  had  no  more  attachment  to  the  Union  at  that  time  than  he  had  while 
acting  as  Secretary  of  War  for  the  Confederate  States  thirteen  years  afterwards. 

t  Mr.  Baker  was  a  native  of  England,  a  man  of  fine  talents  and  devoted  to  the  Government.  He 
was  appointed  a  Brigadier-General  in  the  army  of  the  United  States,  and  fell  at  the  battle  of  Ball's 
.Bluff,  in  1862. 

$  »5r.  Stephens  was  the  first  Vice-President  of  the  Confederate  Government,  a  whig,  and  like  Mr. 
.-Stanley,  wielded  great  influence  with  northern  members  of  that  party. 


A  FACTIOUS   SLAVEHOLDER.  307 

which  southern  members  felt  at  their  failure  to  establish  slavery  in  Cali 
fornia  and  New  Mexico  at  the  previous  session.  Threats  and  arrogant 
bluster  was  regarded  as  the  resort  of  the  slave  power. 

Before  the  adjournment  another  ballot  was  had  for  Speaker,  which 
demonstrated  the  demoralization  of  both  whig  and  democratic  parties. 
The  debate  and  ballotings  continued  until  the  evening  of  the  20th  De 
cember,  when  the  Whigs  and  Democrats  met  in  separate  conventions, 
and  appointed  committees  from  the  free  and  slave  States  to  confer  and 
agree  upon  some  mode  of  organizing  the  House. 

The  writer  having  heard  some  hints  in  regard  to  these  meetings,  called 
out  the  facts  in  open  session,  by  interrogating  Mr.  Ashman,  a  Whig,  of 
Massachusetts. 

The  21st  December  was  entirely  occupied  in  debate.  The  House  was 
as  yet  an  unorganized  body  of  men.  Each  member  was  controlled  by 
his  own  sense  of  propriety.  In  accordance  with  this  common  propriety, 
and  from  necessity,  the  Clerk  had  from  the  commencement  of  the  govern 
ment  called  members  to  order,  at  12  o'clock  on  the  first  day  of  each 
Congress,  and  calling  to  his  assistance  four  members,  had  proceeded  to 
call  the  roll  and  receive  the  votes  for  Speaker,  who,  soon  as  elected  and 
sworn,  assumed  official  functions  ;  but  up  to  the  22d  December  the 
members  had  been  unable  to  elect  a  Speaker  :  yet  all  had  demeaned 
themselves  in  an  orderly  manner,  save  in  the  affair  between  Messrs.  Duer 
and  Meade,  and  they  had  quietly  submitted  all  questions  of  order  to  the 
decision  of  the  Clerk,  agreeably  to  former  precedent.  On  the  day  last 
referred  to,  Mr.  Toombs,  a  Whig,  of  Georgia,  claimed  the  floor,  for  the 
purpose  of  addressing  the  House  ;  but  was  called  to  order  from  various 
parts  of  the  hall  as  the  House  were  proceeding  to  vote  on  a  pending 
question.  Toombs  insisted  on  speaking  ;  the  Clerk  declared  the  call  for 
yeas  and  nays  on  the  pending  question  to  have  been  carried,  and  com 
menced  calling  the  roll.  Toombs,  setting  at  defiance  that  courtesy  and 
respectful  demeanor  towards  his  fellow-members  which  had  ever  controlled 
their  action,  continued  in  a  loud  tone  of  voice  to  address  the  House. 
The  Clerk  proceeded  in  calling  the  roll  of  members,  and  while  thus  em 
ployed  and  the  members  were  responding  to  their  names,  Toombs  became 
more  boisterous  in  his  tone  and  manner  ;  members,  unable  to  hear  their 
names  when  called,  left  their  seats  and  gathered  around  the  Clerk's  desk 
and  made  their  responses  to  the  call,  while  Toombs,  apparently  enraged, 
now  spoke  at  the  very  top  of  his  voice  to  the  members,  not  one  of  whom 
was  paying  any  attention  whatever  to  his  vehement  tirade,  and  no  re 
porter  attempted  to  give  any  sketch  of  his  remarks.  The  Clerk  declared 
the  vote.  Toombs  continued  speaking  in  the  most  boisterous  .manner, 


308  SUICIDE   OF  THE   WHIG   PAETY. 

and  the  Clerk  and  other  members  continued  the  regular  business  amid 
great  disorder  for  thirty  or  forty  minutes,  when,  apparently  from  physical 
exhaustion,  Mr.  Toombs  suspended  further  effort,  and  Mr.  Staunton,  of 
Tennessee,  as  chairman  of  a  joint  committee  of  the  whig  and  democratic 
parties,  stated  that  said  committee  had  agreed  to  advise  the  House  to 
proceed  to  take  three  more  ballots  for  Speaker,  and  if  no  election  be 
had,  the  roll  should  be  again  called  and  the  candidate  receiving  the  high 
est  number  of  votes  should  be  declared  duly  elected. 
1849 1  ^e  wr^er  then  offered  a  resolution  setting  forlh  that  as  the 
Constitution  required  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  given  to  elect  a 
Speaker,  no  vote  of  a  minority  of  the  members  could  elect  such 
officer  ;  but  as  one-fifth  of  the  members  were  not  in  favor  of  this  reso 
lution,  the  yeas  and  nays  could  not  be  obtained,  and  it  was  rejected. 
The  House  then  adopted  Mr.  Staunton's  report  by  a  vote  of  113  to  106. 

On  the  adoption  of  this  report  there  was  some  exultation,  but  the 
older  and  more  considerate  members  regarded  it  as  a  precedent  for 
setting  aside  the  Constitution  in  coming  time. 

The  three  ballots  were  taken  and  the  House  reached  the  contingency 
contemplated  in  the  report ;  and  the  Clerk  proceeded  to  call  the  roll  of 
members  for  the  final  vote,  being  the  sixty-third  ballot.  After  the  roll 
had  been  called,  Mr.  Tuck,  of  New  Hampshire,  rose  and  changed  his 
vote  from  Mr.  Willniot  to  Mr.  Winthrop.  The  other  members  of  that 
little  band  remained  firm  to  the  last,  and  the  vote  was  declared  as  follows : 
for  Howell  Cobb,  102  ;  for  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  99  ;  for  David  Will- 
mot,  8. 

Mr.  Stanley  then  rose  and  proposed  a  resolution  declaring  Mr.  Cobb 
to  have  been  duly  elected.  This  proposition  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of 
147  to  34.  Mr.  Cobb  then  took  the  oath  of  office  and  was  duly  installed 
as  Speaker  of  the  House.* 

This  contest  was  one  of  unprecedented  duration.  The  fact  that  eight 
members,  acting  upon  what  they  deemed  their  constitutional  duty,  voted 
for  no  man  who  would  not  pledge  himself  to  uphold  the  constitutional 


*  The  whig  party  had  ever  been  controlled  in  its  action  by  southern  members.  Indeed,  a  perfect 
infatuation  appeared  to  have  taken  possession  of  the  northern  members  of  that  organization.  At 
any  day  during  the  three  weeks  of  conflict  they  could  have  elected  any  member  of  the  party  who 
would  pledge  himself  to  sustain  the  constitutional  right  of  petition,  by  appointing  committees  who 
would  report  on  northern  petitions.  There  was  no  pledge  demanded  that  -they  should  report  in 
favor  of  such  petitions ;  but  the  demand  was  that  the  petitions  should  be  respectfully  responded 
to.  Yet  that  party  suffered  Mr,  Stanley,  a  slaveholder,  to  lead  them  to  disbandment  rather  than 
guatain  the  right  of  petition. 

It  should  be  further  borne  in  mind  that  the  Free-soilers  proposed  to  vote  for  Mr.  Stevens,  of  Penn 
sylvania,  without  any  pledge,  as  they  regarded  him  committed  to  the  support  of  the  Constitution  by 
his  past  life. 


SPEAKER   ELECTED   BY    RESOLUTION.  309 

rights  of  the  free  States,  set  at  defiance  the  taunts  and  threats  and  per 
secution  of  the  two  great  parties,  met  the  slander  and  detraction  of 
partisan  presses,  and  finally  maintained  their  moral  and  political  integ 
rity,  compelling  the  two  pro-slavery  parties  to  unite  in  order  to  preserve 
the  influence  of  the  slave  power,  constitutes  an  important  incident  in  the 
"  regime  of  slavery." 

Experienced  statesmen  then  saw  that  the  whig  party  had  voluntarily 
surrendered  up  its  existence  at  the  dictation  of  its  slaveholding  members. 
True,  it  attempted  to  rally  on  the  Presidential  election  of  1852,  but  it 
failed,  and  with  this  election  of  Speaker  that  party  ceased  to  exist  as  a 
potential  organization. 

This  result  also  demonstrated  the  political  principle  that  the  advocates 
of  slavery  and  the  supporters  of  liberty  cannot  act  together  when  pro 
perly  confronted  by  those  who  would  maintain  the  principles  which  lie  at 
the  basis  of  our  Government. 

The  House  being  organized,  the  President  transmitted  to  Congress 
his  first  annual  message,  informing  the  members  that  the  people  of  Cali 
fornia  and  New  Mexico  had  formed  State  governments  and  adopted 
State  constitutions,  and  would  at  no  distant  day  apply  for  admission  to 
the  Federal  Union.  This  circumstance  was  regarded  as  favorable  to  the 
cause  of  human  freedom,  and  was  gladly  hailed  by  the  friends  of  human 
rights. 

The  violent  attacks  of  the  whig  press  upon  the  Free-soilers  who  had 
so  firmly  refused  to  vote  for  any  candidate  who  would  not  pledge 
himself  to  maintain  the  constitutional  right  of  petition,  attracted  gene 
ral  attention  throughout  the  country.  They  denied  that  those  mem 
bers  were  actuated  by  patriotic  motives,  but  insisted  that  they  had  re 
fused  to  vote  for  Mr.  Winthrop  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the  whig 
party. 

In  consequence  of  these  assaults,  Mr.  Root  took  occasion  to  inform  the 
House  and  the  country  that  Mr.  Cobb  held  the  office  of  Speaker  by 
virtue  of  Mr.  Stanley's  resolution,  and  not  by  the  votes  of  eight  Free- 
soilers. 

A  debate  of  a  mixed  character,  being  in  part  personal  and  in  part 
political,  followed,  in  which  the  writer  participated,  sustaining  Mr.  Root 
and  justifying  the  "Free-soilers,"  while  Messrs.  Winthrop  and  Rockwell, 
of  Massachusetts,  and  Schenck  and  Yinton,  of  Ohio,  endeavored  to 
vindicate  the  whig  party.  The  discussion  manifested  the  intense  hostility 
of  the  Whigs  towards  those  who  devoted  their  energies  to  promote  the 
cause  of  liberty  and  civilization. 

Both  Whigs  and  Democrats  also  appeared  to  feel  that  the  interests 


310  THE    VOICE   OF   VERMONT. 

of  humanity  had  been  too  successful  in  excluding  slavery  from  California, 
and  that  measures  must  be  adopted  to  placate  the  slave  power. 

On  the  31st  December,  Mr.  Root  offered  a  resolution  directing  the 
Committee  on  Territories  to  report  a  bill  organizing  all  that  territory 
obtained  from  Mexico  ;  and  laying  east  of  California,  excluding  slavery 
therefrom.  Delays  were  interposed  until  the  4th  February,  when  the 
resolution  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  105  to  75. 

In  accordance  with  the  policy  adopted  by  the  Executive  in  regard  to 
California,  the  people  of  New  Mexico  formed  a  State  constitution  and 
government,  excluding  slavery,  and  applied  for  admission  to  the  Union  ; 
but  after  some  delay  the  application  was  rejected,  the  democratic  parfy 
having  control  of  the  House,  as  it  was  then  organized. 
1850  -j  Mr.  Upham,  of  Vermont,  presented  to  the  Senate  a  resolution 
adopted  by  the  Legislature  of  that  State,  declaring  "  that  slavery 
is  a  crime  against  humanity  and  a  sore  evil  in  the  body  politic,  that  was 
excused  by  the  framers  of  our  Federal  Constitution,  entailed  upon  the 
country  by  their  predecessors,  and  tolerated  solely  as  a  thing  of  inexora 
ble  necessity  ;"  and  calling  on  Congress  to  exclude  it  from  the  Territories 
of  the  United  States,  from  the  District  of  Colu?nbia,  from  the  high  seas, 
and  from  all  other  places  where  Congress  holds  exclusive  jurisdiction. 

The  presentation  of  this  resolution  occasioned  a  spirited  debate. 
Mr.  Yulee,  of  Florida,  objected  to  its  being  printed.  He  regarded 
the  language  declaring  slavery  a  crime  as  offensive  to  the  people  of 
other  States.  Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  also  referred  to  the  language 
in  terms  of  condemnation. 

Mr.  Phelps,  of  Vermont,  maintained  the  right  of  the  people  of  his 
State  to  speak  their  own  views  without  restraint. 

Mr.  Boreland,  of  Arkansas,  spoke  with  great  severity,  proclaiming  a 
dissolution  of  the  Union  if  language  like  that  used  in  this  resolution 
was  tolerated. 

Mr.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  a  new  member  from  that  State,  thought  that  the 
rule  of  the  Senate  should  be  maintained,  that  every  State  had  the  right 
to  express  the  views  of  its  people  upon  all  subjects,  including  that  of 
•  slavery,  and  assured  Senators  that  the  State  of  Ohio  would  be  likely  to 
speak  the  sentiments  of  her  people,  irrespective  of  threats  of  disunion, 
let  them  come  from  what  quarter  they  may. 

This  was  the  first  time  Mr.  Chase  spoke  in  the  Senate.  He  had 
been  one  of  the  leading  anti-slavery  men  of  Ohio,  and  was  elected 
to  the  Senate  as  such.  He  had  spoken  and  written  in  favor  of 
the  natural  rights  of  mankind  ;  and  southern  members  were  well  ac 
quainted  with  his  character.  Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  a  man  of 


THE   VOICE   OF   MISSOURI.  311 

age  and  high  position,  replied  to  Mr.  Chase,  declaring  that  South  Caro 
lina  had  made  great  sacrifices  in  surrendering  to  Congress  the  power 
over  commerce  and  navigation  ;  and  then  read  a  long  letter  written  by 
Mr.  Chase,  declaring  the  doctrines  which  he  had  long  maintained  in  public 
and  in  private,  manifesting  the  singular  coincidence  of  action  between  these 
two  Senators  :  Mr.  Chase  having  desired  the  public  to  understand  his 
views  with  the  expectation  that  they  would  be  sustained  ;  while  Mr. 
Butler  read  them  to  the  Senate  with  the  expectation  of  injuring  the  in 
fluence  of  the  Ohio  Senator.  The  debate  continued  four  days,  but  at  its 
conclusion  the  resolutions  were  ordered  to  be  printed. 

Mr.  Benton  presented  resolutions  from  the  Legislature  of  tl850 
Missouri,  declaring  that  the  Federal  Constitution  was  a  compro 
mise  of  conflicting  interests  ;  that  it  gave  no  power  to  Congress  to 
legislate  upon  the  subject  of  slavery,  except  in  regard  to  the  African 
slave  trade  and  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves.  "  That  any  attempt  to 
legislate  upon  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  or  in 
the  Territories  would  be  a  violation  of  the  Federal  Constitution  tending 
to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union." 

The  students  of  our  political  history  will  wonder  at  these  ab 
surd  doctrines  put  forth  by  legislatures  of  that  day.  The  Govern 
ment  had  been  founded  upon  the  avowed  right  of  every  human  being 
to  liberty,  and  the  Constitution  had  declared  that  no  person  should  be 
deprived  of  liberty  without  trial  by  due  process  of  law  :  Yet  professed 
statesmen,  under  excitement,  solemnly  placed  on  record  the  opinion  that 
Congress  could  not  legislate  for  carrying  out  the  very  purpose  of  its 
existence.  But  the  absurdity  of  these  resolutions  become  most  apparent 
when  we  call  to  mind  the  fact  that  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  and  upon  the  high  seas  had  been  established  by 
congressional  legislation,  and  the  power  of  Congress  to  repeal  its  own 
enactments  was  then  denied  by  the  slave  power. 

The  Legislature  of  Missouri,  however,  declared  further,  that  in  case 
Congress  legislated  for  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  District  of 
Columbia  or  from  the  Territories,  that  State  would  be  found  acting  with 
other  slave  States  in  favor  of  any  measures  deemed,  necessary  to  preserve  the 
rights" of  her  people. 

Mr.  Benton,  on  presenting  these  resolutions,  declared  that  the  Legis 
lature  of  his  State  had  mistaken  the  feelings  of  her  people,  who  would 
iiever  be  found  acting  in  favor  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union* 

Mr.  Hale  presented  the  petition  of  citizens  of  Pennsylvania,  praying 

*  Missouri  was  subsequently  the  first  of  the  slave  States  to  declare  in  favor  of  emancipation. 


312  THE   VOICE   OF   NOKTH   CAROLINA. 

Congress  to  take  measures  for  the  peaceful  dissolution  of  the  Ameri' 
can  Union.  This  aroused  the  feelings  of  southern  members,  who 
denounced  the  memorialists  with  great  bitterness,  in  a  debate  of  two 
days  upon  the  propriety  of  receiving  the  petition,  which  was  finally 
excluded.* 

Mr.  Mangum,  a  Whig,  of  North  Carolina,  presented  the  resolutions 
of  a  popular  meeting  in  that  State  denouncing  the  people  of  the  free 
States  as  fanatical  and  dishonest,  and  threatening  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union  if,  what  they  termed,  the  rights  of  the  South  were  interfered 
with. 

It  is  among  the  curiosities  of  slaveholding  literature  that  plainness 
of  language  was  never  used  where  slavery  was  concerned  ;  thus,  these 
resolutions  spoke  of  the  rights  of  the  South,  meaning  slavery  and  the 
slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  the  Territories,  and  on  the 
high  seas,  and  if  these  were  interfered  with,  the  people  of  North  Carolina 
would  secede  from  the  Union. 

Mr.  Hale  objected  to  the  reception  of  this  memorial  which  threatened 
violent  dissolution,  as  the  petition  which  he  had  presented  but  a  few 
days  before  from  Pennsylvania  had  been  excluded  from  the  Senate,  be 
cause  it  asked  a  peaceful  dissolution. 

But  this  memorial  from  North  Carolina  was  respectfully  received  and 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Printing,  to  be  published  or  withheld  from 
publication  as  they  might  think  proper,  only  two  democratic  members 
voting  against  the  proposition,  to  wit,  Messrs.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  and 
Bradbury,  of  Maine. 

1850 ,  Mr.  Seward,  of  New  York,  presented  the  petition  of  some  two 
hundred  and  twenty  citizens  of  that  State  praying  the  abolition 
of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  asked  its 
reference  to  the  appropriate  committee  ;  but  its  reception  was  refused. 
Messrs.  Bright,  of  Indiana;  Dodge  and  Jones,  of  Iowa;  Cass,  of  Michi 
gan;  Douglas,  of  Illinois;  Dayton  and  Miller,  of  New  Jersey,  voting 
with  the  slaveholders  to  exclude  the  petition. 

From  all  parts  of  the  free  States  petitions  were  now  daily  presented 
in  each  House  of  Congress  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  the  Territories  of  the  United  States, 
and  upon  the  high  seas.  Others  requested  that  Congress  w6uld  publicly 
acknowledge  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being,  and  the  duty  of  obey 
ing  His  law  :  while  from  various  slave  States  memorials  were  presented 

*  Thirteen  years  after  this  debate  every  southern  member  who  assailed  these  memorialists  with 
invective,  was  sustaining  an  armed  rebellion  against  the  Union,  which  they  had  proclaimed  sacred 
to  every  American. 


A   FEEE   CONSTITUTION   IN   CALIFORNIA.  313 

setting  forth  the  blessings  of  slavery,  declaring  it  a  divine  institution, 
and  praying  Congress  to  extend  its  benefits. 

But  the  subject  which  attracted  more  attention  than  any  other,  was 
the  question  of  admitting  California  as  a  free  State.  The  people  of  that 
far  distant  territory  had,  in"  accordance  with  the  Executive  wish,  formed 
a  constitution  and  State  government,  and  now  asked  admission  to  the 
Union  of  States.  They  had  expressly  prohibited  slavery,  by  the  consti 
tution,  from  existing  in  that  important  region,  which  the  slave  power 
had  designed  as  the  abode  of  abject  servitude. 

The  advocates  of  slavery  now  learned  by  experience,  that  the  ,1850 
slaveholder,  with  his  servants  domiciled  around  him,  with  his 
plantation  and  its  peculiar  paraphernalia  regulated  and  adapted  to  the 
taste,  the  habits,  and  wants  of  the  owner,  was  not  only  unwilling  to 
remove  to  a  new  country,  but  was  positively  unable  to  do  so  without 
great  sacrifice  of  property,  of  ease,  and  of  comfort.  In  consequence  of 
these  difficulties,  not  a  large  slaveholder  had  removed  to  California,  and 
but  few  owners  of  a  small  number  of  slaves  were  to  be  found  there,  at 
the  time  the  people  were  shaping  the  institutions  of  that  embryo  State  ; 
while  young  and  enterprising  citizens  from  every  free  State  had  taken 
up  their  abode  in  the  territory,  almost  as  soon  as  the  treaty  had  been 
signed.  These  young  and  active  men  were  lovers  of  liberty,  and  were 
careful  to  give  the  proper  character  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of 
California. 

Having  failed  to  establish  a  slaveholding  government  in  the  territory 
acquired  for  that  purpose,  the  slave  power  was  at  once  arrayed  against 
its  admission  as  a  free  State.  Accordingly,  the  debate  on  that  question 
was  opened  by  Mr.  Clingman,  of  North  Carolina.  He  appeared  clearly 
to  comprehend  the  danger  to  slavery  arising  from  the  progress  of  Chris 
tian  civilization  ;  and  that  the  institution  could  be  preserved  from  immc- 
'diate  destruction  only  by  obtaining  further  concessions  in  its  favor  before 
California  should  be  admitted.  He  was  candid  in  his  statement  of  the 
views  and  designs  of  the  anti-slavery  men.  He  admitted  their  object 
was  merely  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  District  of  Columbia,  from  the 
Territories,  and  from  the  high  seas  ;  making  a  total  separation  of  the 
Federal  Government  from  all  support  of  the  institution.*  He  denounced 
these  objects 'as  unconstitutional.  He  spoke  of  the  loss  of  slaves  by 
voluntary  emigration  to  Canada,  complained  that  northern  men  would 

*  It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  while  some  slaveholders  were  thus  candid  and  specific  in  their 
assertion  of  the  objects  of  anti-slavery  men,  northern  presses  and  northern  pro-slavery  politicians 
denounced  anti-slavery  men  in  ytiieral  terms;  but  never  made  any  specific  charges,  which  could 
be  met  and  disproved. 


314  ABSUED  CLAIM  OF  TEXAS. 

not  capture  them  ;  and  insisted  that  Congress  was  bound  to  enact  a 
more  efficient  law  for  their  arrest  and  return.  He  spoke  freely  of  dis 
union,  and  insisted  that  the  northwestern  States  would  unite  with  the 
South,  if  the  Union  Were  dissolved  ;*  and  cautioned  northern  men  to 
beware. 

Mr.  Howard,  of  Texas,  said  the  public  ought  to  know  whether  a 
southern  President  had  induced  the  people  of  California  to  adopt  a 
constitution  excluding  slavery  ;  declaring  that  the  South  had  ever  re 
quired  of  Presidential  candidates  express  pledges  to  maintain  southern  in' 
terests.  But  the  burden  of  Mr.  Howard's  speech  was  the  right  of  Texas 
to  all  the  territory  lying  east  and  north  of  the  Rio  Grande. 

Perhaps  history  records  no  instance  of  a  more  unfounded  assertion  of 
claim,  than  that  of  Texas  to  the  territory  mentioned. 

The  intendency  of  Texas,  and  that  of  Coahuila,  had  been  originally 
united  under  one  government  ;  and  when  about  to  separate,  a  commis 
sion  was  appointed  to  establish  the  line  between  them.  At  the  head  of 
this  commission  was  General  Almonte,  for  many  years  Minister  to  the 
United  States.  The  line  of  demarkation  commenced  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Aransas,  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  north  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and 
extended  northwesterly  at  about  the  same  distance  from  that  river  to 
the  east  line  of  New  Mexico.  Most  of  this  last  mentioned  intendency, 
with  Santa  Fe,  its  capital,  its  custom-house  and  many  of  its  most 
populous  villages,  lay  east  of  the  Rio  Grande. 

Texas  revolted  in  1836,  and,  by  resolution,  declared  all  the  territory 
north  and  east  of  the  Rio  Grande  to  belong  to  her  people,  and  sent  an  army 
to  New  Mexico  ;  but  every  man  was  killed  or  taken  prisoner.  Another 
army  had  marched  upon  Mier,  on  the  Rio  Grande,  within  the  inten 
dency  of  Chihuahua  ;  but  every  man  was  killed,  taken  prisoner,  or  made  a 
hasty  retreat  back  to  Texas.  And  the  Mexican  custom-house,  lying 
north  of  the  mouth  of  that  river,  continued  to  receive  duties  ;  and  all 
acts  of  jurisdiction  were  exercised  by  Mexico  over  the  whole  territory, 
between  the  Nueces  and  the  Rio  Grande,  until  the  American  army, 
under  General  Taylor,  marched  towards  Brownsville,  when  he  met  the 
Mexican  army,  and  the  battle  of  Resaca  de  la  Palma  was  fought  upon 
the  territory  -which  the  slave  power  now  declared  to  have  belonged  to 
Texas. 

1850 ..         The  territory  thus  arrogantly  asserted  to  be  a  part  of  Texas, 

was  of  an  average  width  of  one  hundred  miles,  and  extended  from 

the  mouth  to  the  source  of  the  Rio  Grande,  being  some  two  thousand 

*  This  is  now  the  watchword  with  the  northern  democracy,  at  the  time  of  writing  these  sketches — 
1863.    They  are  merely  repeating  the  language  of  Mr.  Clingman. 


A   CORRUPT  PROPOSITION.  315 

miles— including  some  twenty  towns  and  populous  villages,  whose  people 
had  never  seen  a  Texan  officer,  nor  obeyed  any  other  than  Mexican 
laws. 

This  vast  country  had  been  conquered  by  our  army  ;  and  by  treaty, 
the  United  States  had  acquired  title  to  it,  paying  Mexico  its  full  value  in 
money.  But  Texas  now  claimed  it,  as  a  part  of  her  original  territory. 
To  yield  this  vast  country  to  slavery,  would  be  to  obliterate  the  intenden- 
cy  of  New  Mexico,  and  an  obvious  violation  of  our  treaty.  Texas  pro 
claimed  her  intention  to  dissolve  the  Union,  unless  permitted  to  occupy 
this  whole  country,  thereby  making  it  slave  territory  ;  and  raised  an 
army,  under  pretence  that  she  was  intending  to  take  possession  of  it  by 
force  of  arms — although  the  United  States  was  at  that  moment  sup 
porting  an  army  on  the  frontiers  of  Texas,  at  an  expense  of  more  than 
two  million  dollars  annually,  to  defend  the  people  of  that  State  against 
the  Indians. 

The  advocates  of  justice  insisted  that  Texas  should  be  restricted  to  her 
real  boundaries,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  joint  resolutions  of 
annexation.  Thus  was  another  important  issue  formed  between  the  sup 
porters  of  slavery  and  the  adherents  of  liberty.  It  had  grown  out  of 
the  annexation  of  Texas,  which  the  democratic  party  had  assured  the 
people  would  forever  settle  all  controversy  in  regard  to  slavery.  Never, 
perhaps,  was  the  great  law  of  unerring  truth  and  retributive  justice 
more  clearly  manifested  than  in  these  various  attempts  to  extend  slavery. 
Indeed,  the  political  history  of  the  United  States  during  these  transac 
tions  is  little  more  than  the  record  of  a  connected  series  of  retributions 
for  violating  the  rights  of  our  fellow-men  :  Yet  few  of  our  American 
statesmen  appeared  to  comprehend  the  feebleness  of  human  sagacity 
when  attempting  a  violation  of  immutable  justice. 

This  proposition  to  give  Texas  the  territory  in  question  came  before 
the  Senate,  when  Colonel  Benton  led  off  in  opposition  to  it,  but  pro 
posing  to  pay  Texas  fifteen  million  dollars  from  the  public  treasury  as  an 
indemnity  for  territory  to  which  she  had  no  more  claim  than  she  had  to 
Mexico  itself.  • 

Mr.  Foote,  of  Mississippi,  was  greatly  irritated  at  Colonel  Benton's 
proposition,  and  became  so  personal  in  his  remarks  that  Mr.  Benton 
left'  the  hall:  He  then  compared  the  Senator  from  Missouri  to  Cati 
line  in  the  Roman  Senate,  and  exhibited  the  most  intense  anger  towards 
him. 

Mr.  Calhoun  was  now  aged  and  infirm  ;  his  voice  had  become      [1850 
tremulous  and  his  step  feeble.     Consumption  had  fastened  upon 
his  system,  and  as  he  approached  the  consummation  of  his  earthly  exist- 


316  LAST    SPEECH   OF   ME.    CALHOFN. 

j 

ence,  he  saw  that  all  his  plans  for  placing  human  servitude  in  a  posi 
tion  of  safety  had  failed,  and  he  appeared  desponding  and  gloomy. 
"Unable  to  speak  in  the  Senate,  he  wrote  out  the  thoughts  which 
he  desired  to  express  and  asked  a  fellow  member  to  read  it  to  the 
Senate. 

His  speech  opened  with  gloomy  forbodings  as  to  a  continuance  of 
the  Union,  saying  that  our  danger  arose  from  the  conviction  of  the 
southern  people  that  their  rights  were  disregarded  by  those  who  dis 
cussed  the  slave  question.  Assuming  that  all  discussion  of  slavery  from 
whatever  cause  it  arose,  whether  from  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the 
Mexican  war,  or  the  consignment  of  California  to  oppression,  was 
wrong  and  injurious  to  southern  interests,  he  easily  arrived  at  the  con 
clusion  that  the  lovers  of  liberty  were  really  dangerous  to  the  existence 
of  the  Union,  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  nothing  could  save  it  but 
such  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution  as  would  secure  to  it  a  suffi 
cient  support.  This  was  the  last  speech  of  the  greatest  statesman  of  the 
South.  He  said  a  few  words  on  two  subsequent  occasions,  and  died 
about  three  weeks  afterwards. 

Amid  this  feeling  of  excitement  in  relation  to  the  claims  of  slavery, 
Mr.  Bentoii  publicly  proposed  that  Mr.  Clay  should  introduce  some  mea 
sure  of  compromise  in  order  to  restore  harmony  upon  the  various  ques 
tions  then  pressing  upon  Congress.  That  distinguished  statesman  had 
advocated  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820,  and  had  again  held  out 
the  olive  branch  to  Mr.  Calhoun  and  his  confreres  in  1832.  He  was  now 
advanced  in  age,  and  time  had  made  its  mark  upon  his  physical  system  ; 
but,  although  in  the  decline  of  life,  his  influence  was  great,  and  in  accord 
ance  with  the  apparent  desire  of  the  Senate,  he  brought  forward  a  pro 
position,  First,  To  admit  California  as  a  free  State. 

Second,  An  organization  of  the  Territories  without  restriction  of  slavery. 

Thirdly,  Giving  to  Texas  all  the  territory  lying  east  of  the  Rio 
Grande,  formerly  belonging  to  Coahuila  and  Chihuahua,  but  saving  to 
New  Mexico  her  ancient  territory. 

Fourthly,  The  United  States  to  pay  the  debts  of  Texas  due  at  the 
time  of  annexation. 

Fifthly,  That  slavery  should  not  be  abolished  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  while  Maryland  retained  the  institution,  nor  until  the  people 
of  the  District  desired  it. 

Sixthly,  That  it  is  expedient  to  prohibit  the  bringing  of  slaves  from 
the  surrounding  country  into  the  District  for  sale. 

Seventhly,  That  further  provision  should  be  made  for  the  recapture 
and  return  of  fugitive  slaves. 


MK.    CLAYS    COMPROMISE   DEFEATED.  317 

Eighthly,  That  Congress  has  no  power  to  prohibit  the  inter-state 
slave  trade. 

Mr.  Clay,  when  he  laid  these  propositions  before  the  Senate,  was  sur 
rounded  by  different  circumstances  from  those  which  had  given  him  suc 
cess  in  1820  and  in  1832.  Slaveholders  had  grown  arrogant,  and  the 
advocates  of  liberty  were  inexorable  in  their  support  of  human  rights, 
and  could  no  longer  be  misled  nor  deceived  by  men  of  distinction.  In 
deed  it  is  difficult  to  conjecture  how  he  should  have  imagined  that  Con 
gress  could  silence  the  popular  voice  against  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  or  reconcile  the  people  of  the  free  States  to  the  extension  of 
Texas  over  such  a  vast  territory  as  that  proposed  ;  or  to  paying  that 
State  for  so  much  of  New  Mexico  as  lies  east  of  the  Rio  Grande  ;  or  to 
the  continuance  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  until  Maryland 
should  abolish  the  institution  ;  or  to  become  the  instruments  for  catching 
fugitive  slaves  ;  or  to  the  continuance  of  the  coastwise  slave  trade. 

However,  he  urged  the  adoption  of  these  measures  in  an  able  speech  ; 
but  was  interrupted  by  Mr.  Foote,  of  Mississippi,  who  inquired  if  he  held 
to  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  ?  Mr.  Clay  and  his  associates  had  always  proclaimed  that 
men  in  a  state  of  nature  were  equally  entitled  to  liberty ;  while  Mr. 
Foote,  and  most  southern  men  at  that  time,  believed  that  in  a  state  of 
nature  the  strong  have  a  perfect  right  to  enslave  the  weak  ;  therefore 
the  holding  of  slaves  must  be  a  natural  right,  lying  behind  and  above 
human  enactments  and  human  constitutions. 

To  reconcile  minds  thus  opposed  to  each  other  constituted  a  work 
which  no.  human  power  could  accomplish.  The  resolutions  were  de 
bated  almost  daily  during  an  entire  month,  when  they  were  postponed 
indefinitely. 

On  the  4th  February,  Mr.  Disney,  of  Ohio,  presented  a  series  ,1860 
of  resolutions  proposing  such  an  amendment  to  the  Consti 
tution  as  would  prohibit  Congress  from  excluding  slavery  from  the  Ter 
ritories  of  the  United  States,  which,  after  colloquial  debate,  were  laid  on 
the  table  ;  and  responsive  to  this  movement,  Mr.  Giddings  introduced 
resolutions  declaring,  "life  and  liberty  to  be  gifts  of  God  INHERENT 
and  INALIENABLE,  for  the  protection  of  which  governments  are  insti 
tuted  among  men.  That  in  establishing  governments  in  any  territory  it 
is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  secure  all  the  people  thereof  in  the  enjoy 
ment  of  those  rights." 

la  order  to  test  the  sense  of  members  upon  these  essential  doctrines, 
the  yeas  and  nays  were  ordered.  Mr.  Inge,  of  Alabama,  moved  to  lay 
the  resolutions  on  the  table,  which  was  equivalent  to  a  motion  to  reject 


318  VOTE   IN    KEGAKD    TO    ESSENTIAL  •  TRUTHS. 

them  ;  and  on  this  vote  all  members  from  the  slave  States  voted  m  the 
affirmative,  and  the  vote  of  the  free  States  was  divided  as  follows  : 
MAINE.     There  was  no  vote  in  the  affirmative. 

Nay — Messrs.  Gerry,  Goodenow,  Littlefield,  Sawtel,  and 

Stetson, 5 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.     There  were  no  yeas. 

Nay — Messrs.  Peaslee  and  Willson,        .......     2 

MASSACHUSETTS.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Allen,  Duncan,  Fowler,  King,   Man,    and 

Rockwell, 6 

RHODE  ISLAND.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Dixon  and  King, 2 

CONNECTICUT.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Booth,  Butler,  Cleveland,  and  Waldo,    .     .     4 
VERMONT.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Hibbard,  Henry,  and  Peck, 3 

NEW  YORK.     Yea — Mr.  Briggs, 1 

Nay — Messrs.  Alexander,  Andrews,  Burroughs,  Clark, 
Conger,  Duer,  Gott,  Gould,  Jackson,  John  A.  King, 
James  G.  King,  Preston  King,  Nelson,  Phoenix,  Putnam, 
Reynolds,  Risly,  Rumsey,  Sacket,  Spaulding,  Scher- 
merhorn,  Silvester,  Underbill,  Walden,  and  White,  .  .  25 
NEW  JERSEY.  Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Hay  and  Vandyke, 2 

PENNSYLVANIA.   Yea — Messrs.  Butler,  Casey,  Fuller,  Mann,  Pitt- 
man,  Robbins,  and  Ross, ' .     .     t 

Nay — Messrs.  Calvin,  Dickey,  Chandler,  Friedly,  Hampton, 
Howe,   Moore,  Ogle,   Reid,  Stevens,   Thompson,   and 

Willmot, 12 

Omo.    Yea — Messrs.  Miller  and  Taylor, 2 

Nay — Messrs.  Cable,  Campbell,  Carter,   Corwin,  Disney, 
Evans,  Giddings,  Hunter,  Morris,  Olds,  Potter,  Root, 

Schenck,  Thurman,  Vinton,  and  Wood, 16 

INDIANA.    Yea — Messrs.  Albertson,  Brown,  Fitch,  Dunham,  and 

Gorman, 5 

.     Nay — Messrs.  Harlan  and  Julian, 2 

ILLINOIS.     Yea — Messrs.  Bissel,  Harris,  McClernand,  Richardson, 

and  Young, 5 

Nay— Mr.  Baker,       .     .     .     ..>*';. 2 

MICHIGAN.     Yea — Mr.'  Buell,     ....    ."• .  't 1 

Nay — Mr.  Sprague, 1 


ADMISSION  OF  CALIFORNIA  OPPOSED.  319 

WISCONSIN.     Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs.  Cole,  Doty,  and  Durkee,       3 

IOWA.     Yea — Mr.  Leffier, 1 

The  aggregate  showing  104  in  the  affirmative  and  84  in  the  negative. 
There  was  not  an  affirmative  vote  from  the  six  New  England  States,  nor 
from  New  Jersey  or  Wisconsin.  Of  the  twenty-six  votes  from  New 
York  only  one  was  in  the  affirmative,  while  the  smaller  States  of  Michi 
gan  and  Iowa  each  gave  one  vote  against  these  doctrines.  Two  of  the 
sixteen  votes  from  Ohio,  five  of  the  seven  cast  by  Indiana,  and  five  of 
the  six  given  by  Illinois,  were  in  favor  of  slavery,  while  only  twenty-two 
members  from  the  free  States  were  willing  to  deny  the  great  principle  of 
human  rights. 

On  the  12th  February,  Mr.  Hale  presented  a  petition,  numerously 
signed,  praying  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  California  and  New 
Mexico,  which  gave  rise  to  personal  imputations  by  Mr.  Butler,  of  South 
Carolina,  which  were  ably  met  and  exposed  by  Mr.  Hale. 

The  President  now  communicated  to  both  Houses  of  Congress  copies 
of  the  constitution  of  California.  In  the  Senate,  Mr.  Douglas  moved  its 
reference  to  the  Committee  on  Territories.  This  question  of  reference 
being  debatable,  the  whole  subject  of  slavery  in  the  territory  obtained 
from  Mexico  came  under  general  discussion. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  a  similar  motion  was  made  ;  and 
that  body  now  engaged  in  one  of  the  most  intensely  interesting  debates 
that  ever  agitated  the  nation.  These  discussions  were  the  natural 
and  inevitable  consequences  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  conse 
quent  war  with  Mexico.  No  sophistry  could  disguise  this  obvious 
truth  ;  yet  while  it  was  in  progress  the  democratic  party  asserted, 
reiterated,  and  constantly  insisted  that  the  agitation  was  the  work  of 
the  Free-soilers. 

The  debate  was  occasionally  interrupted  by  other  questions  touching 
slavery.  Mr.  Dayton,  of  New  Jersey,  presented  to  the  Senate  a  petition 
praying  further  legislation*  against  the  African  slave  trade,  which  stirred 
up  much  feeling  in  that  body,  and  the  debate  upon  it  occupied  one  entire 
day. 

Mr.  Giddings  presented  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  memorial 
from  the  Quakers  of  Delaware  and  Pennsyl vania,  setting  forth,  that 
slavery  was  a  violation  of  God's  attribute  of  justice,  must  bring  upon  the 
nation  a  severe  retribution,  and  prayed  that  Congress  would  take  measures 
for  an  immediate  and  peaceful  dissolution  of  the  Union. 

Mr.  Giddings  moved  its  reference  to  a  select  committee  with  instructions 
to  inquire — 


320  DISRESPECT   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

Firstly,  Whether  dissatisfaction  with  our  Federal  Union  exists  among 
the  people  ?  If  so,  to  what  extent  ? 

Second,.  From  what  has  such  dissatisfaction  arisen  ? 

Thirdly,  The  proper  means  for  restoring  confidence  among  the 
people  ? 

It  appeared  that  few  members  were  willing  to  meet  this  question  in 
an  undisguised  and  friendly  manner.  It  was  admitted  on  all  hands  that 
Congress  could  constitutionally  take  no  means  for  dissolving  the 
Union  ;  but,  in  favor  of  referring  the  petition,  it  was  urged  that  every 
cause  of  dissatisfaction  should  be  frankly  met,  and  explained  or  removed 
in  a  spirit  of  respectful  kindness.  But  this  policy  was  opposed  by  the 
entire  South,  and  by  almost  the  entire  North.  Messrs.  Goodenow,  of 
Maine  ;  Allen,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Howe,  of  Pennsylvania ;  Preston 
King,  of  New  York  ;  Giddings  and  Root,  of  Ohio  ;  Julian,  of  Indiana, 
and  Durkee,  of  Wisconsin,  only  voting  for  the  reference. 


A   SOUTHERN   CONVENTION   PROPOSED.  321 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

A  MOVEMENT  TOWARDS  SECESSION MR.  WEBSTER^  POSITION— FUGITIVE  SLAVE 

ACT TEXAN  EFFRONTERY CORRUPTION  UNDISGUISED SENATORIAL  DIGNITY 

OUTRAGED CALIFORNIA  ADMITTED  AS  A  FREE  STATE. 

THE  first  session  of  the  thirty-first  Congress  was  rendered 
memorable  by  the  issuing  of  an  address  by  southern  members 
of  Congress  to  their  constituents,  calling  attention  to  the  efforts  about 
to  be  made  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  territory  of  California  and  from 
all  the  country  then  recently  obtained  from  Mexico,  and  charging  that 
the  people  of  the  free  States  were  not  active  in  their  efforts  to  arrest  and 
return  fugitive  slaves.  The  address  further  announced  that  northern 
people  were  constantly  agitating  the  subject  of  slavery.  These  were  the 
causes  of  complaint  then  urged  by  the  united  voice  of  nearly  all  southern 
members  of  Congress  against  the  people  of  the  free  States.  They  were 
definite,  and  incapable  of  being  misunderstood.  Opposition  to  the 
extension  of  slavery  and  to  all  participation  in  the  crime  of  arresting  and 
returning  fugitive  slaves,  constituted  the  gist  of  their  complaint.  The 
charge  of  agitation  was  then  regarded  as  somewhat  ludicrous,  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  southern  statesmen  had  urged  the  annexation  of  Texas  for 
the  avowed  purpose  of  extending  and  perpetuating  slavery ;  but  denounced 
all  opposition  to  that  measure  as  "  agitation."  They  were  at  that  time 
seeking  to  extend  the  institution  over  the  territory  acquired  from 
Mexico  ;  but  characterized  all  opposition  to  that  measure  as  "  agita 
tion."  They  were  demanding  a  new  and  more  efficient  fugitive  slave 
act  ;  but  asserted  that  opposition  to  it  constituted  "agitation" 

This  address  appeared  to  be  a  well  defined  step  towards  a  separation 
\  of  the  States  and  the  formation  of  a  Southern  Confederacy. 

In  response  to  this  address,  several  southern  States  took  incipient 
measures  for  severing  the  bonds  which  had  long  bound  them  to  the  com 
mon  sisterhood.  Mississippi  was  the  first  to  move  on  this  subject.  Her 
Legislature,  by  joint  resolutions,  declared  that  efforts  had  been  made  for 
the  last  thirty  years  to  deprive  the  southern  people  of  their  rights  in  the 
Territories  of  the  United  States :  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  southern 
States  to  take  action  in  favor  of  their  own  safety ;  and  for  that  purpose, 
a  Southern  Convention  ought  to  be  held. 

These  resolutions  were  presented  to  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Davis,  who 

21 


322  OEIGIN   OF  THE   FUGITIVE   LAW   OF   1850. 

spoke  briefly  in  support  of  the  right  of  slaveholders  to  carry  their  "  human 
chattels  "  into  the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  and  to  receive  from 
Congress  the  same  protection  which  they  received  for  other  property  ; 
and  he  asserted  that  free  governments  had  been  formed  in  California 
and  New  Mexico,  under  the  apprehension  that  they  would  not  be  recog 
nized  with  slaveholcling  institutions.* 

1850]  ^ne  *ssue  between  slavery  and  freedom  soon  became  more  fully 
developed.  As  the  advocates  of  freedom  resisted  all  encroach 
ments  upon  the  rights  of  the  free  States,  the  slave  power  became  more 
assiduous  in  its  demands  for  support.  On  the  6th  March,  Mr.  Hun 
ter,  of  Yirginia,  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  the  Senate  a  reso 
lution  calling  on  the  Secretary  of  State  for  copies  of  all  papers  relative 
to  the  deportation  of  slaves  by  the  British  army  and  navy  during 
the  revolutionary  war  ;  and  inquiring  whether  any  measures  had  been 
adopted  since  the  treaty  of  1794  for  the  recovery  of  compensation  from 
the  British  government.  The  proposition  was  received  with  marked 
respect,  and  was  referred  to  the  appropriate  committee,  but  was  never 
reported  upon. 

These  episodes  in  the  regular  debate  were  confined  to  the  subject  of 
slavery,  and  constituted  no  change  of  the  spirit  or  the  theme  which  now 
occupied  the  attention  of  both  Houses  of  Congress. 

Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  had,  on  leave,  introduced  a  bill  to  amend 
the  fugitive  slave  law  of  1793.  It  had  been  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  the  Judiciary,  of  which  Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  was  chairman. f 
This  bill  excited  much  debate  ;  and  much  interest  was  felt  to  hear  Mr. 
Webster's  views  in  regard  to  it,  in  consequence  of  the  fame  which  he  had 
acquired  as  a  constitutional  lawyer.  It  was  known  that  he  believed 
the  Constitution  had  given  to  Congress  no  authority  to  legislate  in 
regard  to  fugitive  slaves,  but  that  the  power  had  been  reserved  to  each 
of  the  several  States. 

In  intellect  he  may  be  said  to  have  stood  at  that  time  without  a  rival. 
Nature  had  bestowed  upon  him  her  richest  gifts.  He  was  characterized 
for  extraordinary  concentration  of  thought.  His  logic  was  compact, 
and  appeared  to  be  irrefutable.:  and  no  speaker  used  the  English  lan- 

*  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Mr.  Davis  first  committed  himself  fully  to  the  doctrines  of  secession ; 
an  act  which  the  author  has  ever  believed  that  gentleman  regretted,  although  he  subsequently 
became  President  of  the  Confederate  States. 

t  It  is  a  matter  of  some  curiosity  that  Mr.  Butler,  in  his  report,  maintained  the  very  doctrines  of 
the  Free-soilers  on  this  subject ;  declaring  that  the  Constitution  had  intended  that  the  several 
States  should  legislate  for  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves ;  that  this  construction  had  been  held  by 
the  founders  of  the  Government ;  but  he  stated,  as  the  States  had  failed  to  do  their  duty  in  this 
respect  the  obligation  devolved  upon  Congress.  The  legitimacy  of  this  sequence  does  not  appear 
Tery  clearly. 


APOSTACY   OF   ME.    WEBSTER.  323 

guage  more  appropriately.  He  had  long  stood  among  the  leading 
statesmen  of  the  nation,  and  his  mind  had  been  enriched  by  an  experience 
to  which  few  men  attain.  He  was  literally  the  favorite  statesman  of 
Boston,  and  as  that  city  then  gave  tone  to  the  popular  feeling  of  the 
State,  he  was  said  to  have  a  controlling  influence  in  Massachusetts  :* 
Probably  at  the  period  of  which  we  are  now  writing,  he  exerted  a 
greater  moral  power  throughout  the  free  States  than  any  other  man, 
although  his  political  influence  had  been  somewhat  diminished  by  his 
service  in  the  Cabinet  of  Mr.  Tyler,  whose  administration  had  proven 
unpopular.  But  he  had  great  defects  of  character,  common  to  the  age 
in  which  he  lived.  He  had  been  reared  and  educated  in  the  school  of 
political  expediency,  which  taught  the  separation  of  moral  principle  from 
the  duties  of  political  life.  He  regarded  mankind  as  so  ignorant  and 
depraved,  that  no  political  organization  could  be  sustained  upon  the 
basis  of  moral  truth.  He  was  ambitious,  and  publicly  aspired  to  the 
Presidency. 

He  had  given  anti-slavery  members  of  Congress  to  understand  that 
he  would  sustain  their  doctrines.  He  even  submitted  the  skeleton  of  his 
speech  to  the  inspection  of  one  or  more  leaders  of  that  party,  who  pro 
nounced  it  satisfactory,  and  Free-soilers  anticipated  that  he  would  lend 
his  influence  in  favor  of  carrying  forward  the  great  moral  enterprise  of 
redeeming  the  nation  from  the  thraldom  of  human  bondage.  But  the 
great  leading  defects  of  his  character  disqualified  him  for  the  discharge  of 
that  high  duty.  He  did  not  believe  in  the  omnipotence  of  moral  truth. 
In  his  judgment  and  conscience  he  drew  a  line  of  demarkation  between 
moral  duties  and  political  action.  With  all  his  high  qualities,  his  great 
experience,  his  gigantic  intellect,  he  had  failed  to  understand  that  moral 
truth  and  immutable  justice  constituted  the  only  basis  of  true  greatness 
and  of  certain  success  in  political  life.  He  was  ambitious,  and  after 
mature  reflection,  he  appeared  to  think  that  his  only  pathway  to  the 
Presidential  chair  lay  through  the  regions  of  slavery. 

In  commencing  his  speech,  known  as  his  7th  March  expose,  he  was 
solemn  in  manner,  and  lucid  in  his  historical  facts,  clearly  defining  the 
encroachments  of  slavery,  and  attributing  the  responsibility  of  those 
wrongs  to  the  democratic  party,  while  at  the  same  time  he  gradually 
laid  the  foundation  for  his  own  departure  from  principle  by  admitting 
the  past  action  of  the  Government  to  constitute  precedents  from  which 
he  asserted  that  the  then  present  age  was  not  at  liberty  to  depart. 

He  then  declared  that  soil  and  climate  had  excluded  slavery  from 

*  It  was  said  by  ex-President  Adams  that  he  himself  was  unable  to  obtain  a  seat  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  ia  consequence  of  Mr.  Webster's  influence  in  the  Legislature. 


324  HUMILIATION   OF   THE   FREE   STATES. 

California  and  New  Mexico,  and  asserted  that  he  would  do  no  act  to 
prohibit  its  existence  therein.  Having  thus  placed  himself  in  direct  oppo 
sition  to  the  friends  of  liberty  and  to  northern  whigs,  who,  as  a  body, 
had  ever  opposed  the  extension  of  slavery  ;  he  proceeded  to  declare  in 
regard  to  fugitive  slaves,  that  he  had  ever  regarded  the  Constitution  as 
referring  the  duty  of  capturing  and  returning  fugitive  slaves  to  the 
several  States ;  but  said  the  supreme  court  had  decided  that  the  power 
of  legislating  on  that  subject  remained  exclusively  with  Congress  ;  and 
he  declared  it  the  duty  of  statesmen  to  obey  that  decision;  and  then  he 
expressed  his  concurrence  in  the  propriety  of  passing  the  bill  before  the 
Senate,  for  the  capture  and  return  of  fugitive  slaves.  He  proceeded  to 
declare  that  their  capture  and  return  was  binding  upon  the  honor  and 
conscience  of  the  American  people.  Having  thus  asserted  the  revolting 
infidelity  that  human  constitutions  may  change  or  dictate  the  moral 
duties  of  men,  he  proceeded  to  denounce  those  who  sought  to  evade  or 
get  round  the  commission  of  such  crimes,  or  as  he  expressed  it,  the 
"duties"  of  seizing  and  sending  to  slavery  innocent  men  and  women  ;  a 
crime  which,  under  the  laws  of  Congress,  was  at  that  period  punishable 
with  death,  if  committed  on  the  African  coast.  He  denounced  the  public 
press  for  speaking  in  offensive  language  of  the  institution,  and  referred 
to  what  he  characterized  as  "foolish  speeches  in  both  Houses  of  Congress." 
He  declared  secession  impossible,  and  expressed  his  belief  that  the  Nash 
ville  (secession)  Convention  would  be  guided  by  high  and  just  motives. 
He  proceeded  so  far  as  to  admit  the  claim  of  Texas  to  the  vast  country 
north  and  east  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  asserted  his  willingness,  if  she 
would  surrender  a  portion  to  New  Mexico,  to  grant  her  from  the 
national  funds  a  just  compensation.* 

By  this  speech  a  blow  was  struck  at  freedom  and  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  free  States,  which  no  southern  arm  could  have  given.  It 
shook  the  pillars  of  our  American  temple  ;  but  its  reaction  prostrated  m 
political  death  the  giant  who  seemed  to  have  directed  his  deadly  aim  at 
the  heart  of  liberty.  At  the  close  of  his  speech,  those  who  listened  to 
him  appeared  to  regard  his  political  prospects  as  totally  annihi 
lated,  f 

This  speech  greatly  encouraged  the  supporters  of  slavery.  Mr.  Web 
ster's  friends  were  numerous  and  wealthy  throughout  Massachusetts  and 

*  The  history  of  American  legislation  perhaps  furnishes  no  parallel  to  the  corruptions  embraced 
in  the  measures  here  proposed. 

t  In  the  speech  of  Mr.  Webster,  as  published,  is  a  paragraph  setting  forth  the  wrongs  perpetrated 
by  the  slave  States  upon  the  colored  citizens  of  the  free  States  ;  but  he  did  not  name  it  in  the  speech 
when  delivered.  He  inserted  it  afterwards,  at  the  suggestion  of  a  friend  that  he  should  have 
maintained  the  rig'hts  of  the  North  in  this  respect. 


INFIDELITY   AND    CORRUPTION.  325 

the  North.    In  order  to  sustain  him  they  adopted  his  doctrines,  and  with 
him  united  their  political  fortunes  to  the  South. 

The  speech  occasioned  great  sensation  in  the  free  States.  Mr.  Web 
ster  was  denounced  as  a  traitor  to  human  rights  and  to  the  interests  of 
the  free  States.  Public  meetings  of  the  people,  and  several  State  Legis 
latures  by  resolutions,  repudiated  the  doctrines  he  had  thus  solemnly 
asserted.  Remonstrances  against  it  were  presented  in  both  Houses  of 
Congress.  These,  and  almost  every  subject  of  legislation  which  came 
before  that  body,  furnished  questions  for  debating  the  institution  of 
slavery  in  some  of  its  phases  ;  and  it  may  be  truly  said  that  four-fifths 
of  the  time  of  each  House  was  devoted  to  that  subject  during  the  first 
six  months  of  the  session. 

One  of  the  questions  to  which  the  attention  of  Congress  and  the 
country  was  directed  was  presented  by  Mr.  Crowell,  of  Ohio.  On  the 
27th  May,  that  gentleman  asked  leave  to  present  to  the  consideration 
of  the  House  a  bill  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  on  this  question  of  leave  one  hundred  members,  mostly 
from  the  free  States,  voted  in  the  affirmative  ;  while  sixty  from  the  slave 
States,  assisted  only  by  Messrs.  Miller,  of  Ohio,  and  James  Thompson, 
of  Pennsylvania,  voted  against  the  proposition.  Leave  was  obtained, 
but  the  bill  never  came  up  for  action. 

The  philosophy  of  that  day,  which  discarded  moral  principle  from  the 
political  code,  exti  nded  further  than  was  generally  understood  by  the 
people.  Many  men  who  held  office  and  were  popular  believed  that 
corruption  was  necessary  to  the  support  of  every  form  of  government ; 
that  neither  political  parties,  nor  governments,  could  be  held  together 
without  a  free  use  of  corrupt  means.  Dhring  the  session  of  Congress  now 
under  consideration  a  resolution  was  introduced,  calling  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  Secretary  of  War  had  unjustly,  and  without  any  legal  or 
equitable  claim,  obtained  from  the  treasury  $234,871  86,  as  the  represen 
tative  of  one  George  Galphin,  an  Indian  trader,  who,  in  1773,  obtained 
a  cession  of  lands  from  the  Indians  which  had  by  the  revolution  become 
the  property  of  the  State  of  Georgia.  That  State  had  very  properly 
repudiated  the  claim  as  altogether  fabulous  ;  but  the  heirs  of  Galphin 
appealed  to  Congress,  and  such  was  the  influence  of  southern  members 
that  the  claim  for  $43,518  97  was  granted.  One-half  of  this  sum  was 
received  by  Mr.  Crawford,  Secretary  of  War,  as  one  of  the  heirs  and 
attorney  for  the  others.  But,  not  satisfied  with  this,  he  now  demanded 
of  the  treasury  annual*  interest  on  that  sum,  amounting  to  $191,352  89. 
He,  being  a  member  of  the  Cabinet,  obtained  the  money.  A  select 
committee  having  reported  the  facts  to  the  House  of  Representatives, 


326  SLAVEHOLDING   INSOLENCE   EXPOSED. 

declared  that  the  money  was  obtained  unjustly,  and  without  legal  or 
equitable  right.  This  report  was  confirmed  by  the  House,  and  Mr. 
Crawford  retired  to  private  life  with  a  vast  fortune  plundered  from  the 
public  treasury,  in  full  accordance  with  the  doctrine  that  corruption  is 
necessary  to  the  support  of  governments.  This  immense  fraud  resulted 
from  slaveholding  influence,  and  was  the  legitimate  sequence  of  the  doc 
trine  which  sustained  slavery  and  had  long  controlled  the  Government. 

The  slave  question  was  now  rendered  more  complicated,  by  a  most  extra 
ordinary  proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  Executive  of  Texas.  As  already 
remarked,  she  claimed  all  that  part  of  New  Mexico  which  lies  east 
of  the  Rio  Grande,  including  its  capital  Santa  Fe,  its  custom-house  and 
its  most  populous  towns  and  villages.  Mr.  Webster,  and  other  politicians 
who  were  obsequious  to  the  slave  interest,  admitted  the  claim  to  be  just, 
and  the  Governor  of  Texas  sent  a  Commissioner,  with  orders  to  organize 
counties  in  New  Mexico  under  Texan  laws,  declaring  that  that  State 
owned  the  territory.  The  people  of  New  Mexico  were  indignant.  The 
United  States  had  guaranteed  to  them  the  enjoyment  of  all  their  muni 
cipal  rights  by  treaty  ;  and  the  Texan  Commissioner,  finding  himself  in 
danger,  fled  from  the  scene  of  his  labors.  The  Governor  of  Texas  now 
called  on  the  President  to  withdraw  the  Federal  troops  from  the  territory, 
in  order  that  he  might  send  those  of  Texas,  to  enforce  her  laws  in  this 
ancient  intendency.  He  declared  that,  if  the  Federal  troops  were  not 
immediately  withdrawn,  he  would  send  those  of  Texas  to  dislodge  them. 

This  insolent  threat  was  put  forth  only  four  years  after  the  annexation 
of  Texas  ;  and  its  real  character  can  only  be  appreciated  by  bearing  in 
mind  that  the  war  which  followed  annexation  cost  the  United  States 
some  three  hundred  millions  .of  dollars,  and  they  had  furnished  an  army 
to  protect  the  Texans  from  the  miserable  hordes  of  Indians  that  hung 
upon  her  frontier,  at  an  expense  of  three  millions  per  annum. 

Mr.  Fillmore  was  President.  He  selected  Mr.  Webster  for  his  Secre 
tary  of  State,  after  that  gentleman  had  made  his  7th  March  speech, 
declaring  all  the  country  east  of  the  Rio  Grande  to  belong  to  Texas, 
and  his  willingness  to  pay  Texas  from  the  treasury  of  the  United  States 
for  such  part  of  New  Mexico  as  lay  east  of  that  river. 

The  President  and  Cabinet  appeared  greatly  alarmed  at  the  threats 
put  forth  by  Texas.  Leading  Whigs  and  leading  Democrats  professed 
great  fears  that  "Texas  would  dissolve  the  Union.  And  instead  of  sending 
a  military  force  to  suppress  the  threatened  rebellion,  a  bill  was  intro 
duced  into  the  Senate,  proposing  to  pay  the  State"  of  Texas  ten  millions 
of  dollars,  for  the  territory  to  which  she  never  had  the  shadow  of  a 
claim-.  This  surrender  of  our  national  dignity,  in  consequence  of  the 


FIRST   VOTE   ON   ANNEXATION.  327 

harmless  threats  of  the  Texan  executive,  presented  a  melancholy  spec 
tacle  to  the  patriots  of  that  day.  The  popular  mind  attributed  it  to  the 
moral  cowardice  of  those  who  controlled  the  action  of  Congress  and  of 
the  Executive  ;  but  men  who  mingled  in  the  public  councils  of  the  nation, 
those  who  had  the  best  opportunities  for  judging,  attributed  the  course 
of  leading  statesmen  to  an  emotion  far  less  honorable  than  cowardice. 

Previous  to  this  time,  Texas  bonds  had  been  regarded  as  of  little  value. 
They  were  sold  as  low  as  seventeen  cents  upon  the  dollar.  But  it  was 
seen  that  the  proposed  payment  would  raise  the  price  of  those  bonds  at 
least  to  seventy  cents  upon  the  dollar.  This  proposition  aroused  the 
mercenary  feelings  of  stock  jobbers  and  gamblers,  who  gathered  about 
the  Capitol,  and  members  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  became  purchasers  of  Texas  bonds.  Even  members  of  the  Cabinet 
were  charged  with  having  purchased  large  amounts  at  small  prices,  to 
be 'returned  in  case  the  bill  alluded  to  should  fail  of  becoming  a  law. 
Members  of  Congress  offered  some  of  their  fellow-members  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars  of  Texas  bonds,  to  be  paid  for  at  seventeen  cents  upon 
the  dollar,  and  if  the  bill  passed  they  were  to  be  received  back  by  the 
vender  at  sixty-seven  dollars  on  the  hundred,  so  as  to  give  the  purchaser 
fifty  thousand  dollars  for  his  vote.  Indeed,  it  was  asserted  that  the 
value  of  Congressional  votes  was  witnessed  by  the  transfer  books  of 
certain  banks.  Ladies  of  members  threw  off  disguise,  and  insisted  that 
those  members  who  had  refused  to  become  interested  should  purchase 
Texas  bonds,  so  as  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  bill  and  make  fortunes 
for  themselves  and  families. 

The  bill  passed  the  Senate  on  the  10th  August  and  came  to  the 
House.  Here  it  met  with  great  difficulties,  the  anti-slavery  members 
assailing  it  with  force,  publicly  charging  its  supporters  with  bribery. 
The  first  vote  taken  upon  it  was  to  refer  it  to  the  Committee  of  the 
whole  House  on  the  state  of  the  Union,  which  was  carried  by  101  to 
99.  This  would  have  been  equivalent  to  a  rejection  of  the  bill ;  but  a 
motion  to  reconsider  was  made  and  carried.  The  contest  became  spirited  : 
members  changed  from  one  side  to  the  other.  As  the  day  wore  away 
members  appeared  to  settle  into  a  determined  purpose,  and  on  the  vote 
for  engrossing  the  bill,  80  members  recorded  their  names  in  the  affir 
mative  and  126  voted  in  the  negative.  Nearly  all  the  southern  members 
voted  for  the  engrossment,  and  were  sustained  by  northern  members  as 
follows  :  From 
MAINE.  .  .  .  Messrs.  Fuller,  Gerry  and  Littlefield,  ....  3 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.         "        Peaslee  and  Willson, 2 

MASSACHUSETTS  .         "        Elliott  and  Grinnel,  •   *;   ....     2 


328  BILL    DEFEATED   AND   RECONSIDERED. 

t 

YERMONT  .     .     .     Mr.  Hebard, 1 

NEW  YORK  .     .     Messrs.  Andrews,  Briggs,  Brooks,  Duer,  Gould, 

McKissock,  Phoenix,  Rose,  Underbill, 

Walden,  and  White, 11 

NEW  JERSEY     .         "       James  G.  King,  Yan  Dyke,  and  Wildrich,     3 
PENNSYLVANIA  .         "       Butler,  Carey,  Chandler,  Dimmock,  Levin, 

Job  Mann,  Moore,  Ogle,  Pitman,  Rob- 
bins,  Strong,  and  Thompson,  .     .     .     .12 
OHIO    ....         "       Disney,  Hoaglaud,  Schenck,  Taylor,  Thur- 

man,  and  Yinton, 6 

INDIANA    ...         "       Albertson,  Brown,  Dunham,  and  Gorman,     4 
ILLINOIS   ...         "       Harris,  McClernand,  and  Young,    ...     3 

MICHIGAN.     .     .     Mr.  Buell, 1 

IOWA  ....     Mr.  Leffler, 1 

Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  and  Wisconsin  furnished  no  vote  for  the 
bill.  The  result  was  declared  by  the  Speaker  amid  intense  excitement. 
Many  appeared  disappointed  at  the  failure.  Free-soilers  declared  that 
they  had  supposed  the  work  of  corruption  to  have  been  more  perfect.  But 
Mr.  Boyd,  of  Kentucky,  a  leading  Democrat,  moved  a  reconsideration. 

On  the  following  morning  a  motion  was  made  to  lay  the  proposition 
to  reconsider  on  the  table  :  And  members  who  were  supposed  really  to 
desire  the  passage  of  the  bill,  but  were  unwilling  to  vote  for  it,  were 
now  constrained  to  vote  against  the  pending  motion  to  lay  the  proposi 
tion  to  reconsider  on  the  table,  or  suffer  the  bill  to  be  defeated  at  this 
stage  of  the  proceeding. 

Many  members  who  had  voted  against  the  passage  of  the  bill,  appa 
rently  anxious  for  its  defeat,  now  changed  positions  and  voted  against 
its  defeat,  apparently  anxious  for  its  passage.  Those  who  thus  placed 
their  contradictory  votes  on  record  were  Messrs.  Duncan,  Mann,  and 
Rockwell,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Dixon  and  King,  of  Rhode  Island  ;  Meach- 
am  and  Peck,  of  Yermont ;  Burroughs,  Conger,  John  A.  King,  Nelson, 
Ramsey,  Sylvester,  and  Schermerhorn,  of  New  York  ;  Calvin,  Friedly, 
Gilmore,  and  Ross,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Carter,  Evans,  Potter,  Sweetzer, 
and  Whittlesey,  of  Ohio  ;  Fitch  and  Halloway,  of  Indiana  ;  Richardson 
and  Went  worth,  of  Illinois. 

Thus  was  the  bill  now  saved  from  defeat  by  a  vote  of  135  to  71, 
although  it  had  been  refused  engrossment  on  the  previous  day  by  a  vote 
of  126  to  80. 

It  was  near  the  close  of  the  day  when  the  House  again  arrived  at  a 
direct  vote  upon  the  engrossment  of  the  bill,  and  the  following  members 


A    SECOND    DEFEAT   AND   RECONSIDERATION.  329 

who  had  voted  against  it  on  the  previous  day,  now  voted  for  it,  to  wit  : 
Messrs.  Mann  and  Rockwell,  of  Massachusetts;  Dixon  and  King,  of 
Rhode  Island;  Meacham  and  Peck,  of  Yernaont;  Burroughs,  Conger, 
John  A.  King,  Ramsey,  Sylvester,  Schermerhorn,  of  New  York;  Cal 
vin  and  Friedly,  of  Pennsylvania;  Carter,  Evans,  Sweetzer,  and  Whit- 
tlesey,  of  Ohio ;  Halloway,  of  Indiana,  and  Wentworth,  of  Illinois. 

As  the  count  proceeded,  and  members  saw  the  engrossment  of  the 
bill  was  again  defeated,  the  excitement  became  intense,  and  the  Speaker 
was  for  a  time  quite  unable  to  be  heard,  but  at  length  he  again  de 
clared  the  question  lost.  Mr.  Howard,  of  Texas,  again  moved  a  recon 
sideration  ;  but  the  Speaker  promptly  replied  that  a  second  reconsidera 
tion  was  not  in  order.  From  this  decision  an  appeal  was  taken,  and  the 
House  adjourned. 

On  reassembling  the  next  morning,  the  countenances  of  members 
would  have  presented  a  rich  scene  for  the  pencil.  Some  sat  with  knitted 
brows  and  compressed  lips,  sternly  silent  amid  the  moral  pestilence 
which  appeared  to  surround  them.  Others  were  nervous,  and  evidently 
ill  at  ease  with  themselves  ;  others  appeared  desperate,  and  determined 
to  secure  fortunes  for  themselves  by  transferring  money  from  the  pockets 
of  the  people  to  their  own  ;  while  the  one  usual  arid  universal  excuse  for 
all  corruptions  was  iterated  and  reiterated,  and  constantly  repeated  on 
every  hand,  that  the  passage  of  the  bill  was  necessary  "  to  save  the 
Union.77 

The  first  question  was  upon  sustaining  the  Speaker  in  declaring  that 
the  second  motion  to  reconsider  was  out  of  order.  He  was  himself  a 
slaveholder,  and  supposed  to  be  anxious  for  the  passage  of  the  bill  ; 
but  would  not  violate  his  duty  and  parliamentary  law  in  order  to  effect 
that  object.  It  appeared  impossible  for  any  man  to  mistake  the  law 
of  legislation  which  the  Speaker  explained  so  clearly.  Opponents  of 
the  measure  declared  the  proposition  to  reverse  the  Speaker's  decision 
most  obviously  corrupt.  They  asserted  that  neither  pusillanimity  nor 
cowardice  could  induce  members  to  vote  for  it :  But  it  was  sustained. 
The  vote  given  by  the  free  States  was  as  follows  : 

From  Maine,  Messrs.  Gerry,  Otis,  Sawtelle,  and  Stetson  voted  in  the 
affirmative  ;  Messrs.  Fuller  and  Littlefield  in  the  negative.  From  New 
Hampshire,  Mr.  Tuck  voted  alone  in  the  affirmative,  and  Messrs.  Hib- 
bard,  Peaslee,  and  Willson  in  the  negative.  From  Massachusetts, 
Messrs.  Allen,  Fowler,  Mitim,  and  Rockwell  sustained  the  Speaker  ;  while 
Messrs.  Duncan,  Elliott,  and  Grinnell  voted  against  his  decision.  From 
Rhode  Island,  Messrs.  King  and  Dixon  voted  in  the  negative  ;  while  all 
the  members  from  Connecticut,  Messrs.  Booth,  Butler,  and  Waldo,  voted 


330  A   MOST   EXTEAORDINAEY   VOTE.       , 

in  the  affirmative.  From  Yermont,  Messrs.  Henry  and  Peck  sustained 
the  Speaker's  decision  ;  while  Messrs.  Meacham  and  Hebard  voted  to 
reverse  it.  From  New  York,  Messrs.  Alexander,  Bennett,  Clark,  Con 
ger,  Gott,  Preston  King,  Jackson,  Matteson,  Sacket,  and  Scboolcraft 
maintained  the  Speaker's  decision,  and  Messrs.  Andrews,  Briggs, 
Brooks,  Burrows,  Gould,  Rose,  Reynolds,  Putnam,  Ramsey,  Jackson, 
John  A.  King,  McKissock,  Nelson,  Phoenix,  Schermerhorn,  Sylvester, 
Underbill,  Walden,  and  White  voted  to  overrule  the  Speaker's  decision. 
From  New  Jersey,  Mr.  Newell  voted  in  the  affirmative  ;  and  Messrs. 
James  G.  King,  Yan  Dyke,  and  Wildrick  gave  their  voices  in  the  nega 
tive.  From  Pennsylvania,  Messrs.  Dickey,  Howe,  Read,  and  Stevens 
voted  in  the  affirmative,  and  Messrs.  Butler,  Chandler,  Calvin,  Casey, 
Dimmock,  Frieclly,  Gilmore,  Levin,  Mann,  McLanahan,  Moore,  Ogle, 
Pitman,  Robbins,  Ross,  Strong,  and  Thompson  voted  in  the  negative. 
From  Ohio,  Messrs.  Cable,  Campbell,  Corwin,  Crowell,  Disney,  Giddings, 
Hunter,  Morris,  Root,  Schenck,  and  Sweetzer  voted  in  the  affirmative,  and 
Messrs.  Carter,  Evans,  Hoagland,  Olds,  Potter,  Taylor,  Thurman,  Yin- 
ton,  and  Whittlesey  voted  in  the  negative.  From  Indiana,  Messrs. 
Fitch,  Halloway,  and  Julian  sustained  the  Speaker's  judgment;  and 
Messrs.  Albertson,  Brown,  Dunham,  Gorman,  Harlan,  and  Robinson 
gave  their  votes  to  overrule  it.  From  Illinois,  Mr.  Baker  voted  in  the 
affirmative,  and  Messrs.  Harris,  McClernand,  Richardson,  Wentworth, 
and  Young  voted  in  the  negative.  From  Michigan,  Messrs.  Bing- 
ham,  Buell,  and  Sprague  voted  to  sustain  the  Speakers  judgment. 
From  Wisconsin,  Messrs.  Cole,  Doty,  and  Durkee  voted  to  support 
the  Speaker's  decision  ;  while  Mr.  Leffler,  from  Iowa,  voted  to  over 
rule  it. 

Fifty-four  votes  from  the  free  States  were  given  in  favor  of  the  deci 
sion  of  the  Speaker,  while  seventy-two  members  from  the  free  States 
voted  to  overrule  it,  in  order  that  the  bill  might  become  a  law.  There 
were  men  from  the  slave  States  who  would  not  place  their  names  on 
record  in  behalf  of  this  obvious  attempt  to  overrule  all  parliament 
ary  law  :  Messrs.  Ash  and  Yenable,  from  North  Carolina  ;  Averet, 
Bayley,  Edmundson,  Holliday,  Mead,  Parker,  and  Powell,  of  Yirginia; 
Burt,  Colcock,  Holmes,  McQueen,  Orr,  Wallace,  and  Woodward,  of 
South  Carolina;  Bay,  Hall,  and  Phelps,  of  Missouri;  Haralson  and 
Jackson,  of  Georgia;  Bowdon,  Harris,  Hubbard,  and  Inge,  of  Ala 
bama;  Brown,  Featherston,  and  McWillie,  of  Mississippi;  Johnson,  of 
Arkansas;  La  Sere  and  Morse,  of  Louisiana,  and  Staunton,  of  Tennes 
see,  constituting  thirty-two  members  from  the  slave  States,  making  in 
all  eighty-six  votes  in  favor  of  sustaining  the  Speaker's  decision,  while 


FUETHEE   BAEBAEISM   PEOPOSED.  331 

seventy-two  votes  from  the  free  States  and  fifty  from  the  slave  States, 
amounting  in  all  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  votes,  were  cast  to  re 
verse  the  Speaker^  decision,  in  order  that  the  bill  might  pass. 

Perhaps  it  were  impossible  for  the  reader,  or  any  person  not  present  at 
the  time,  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  the  scene  presented  on  that  occasion. 
Every  one  seemed  confident  that  the  appropriation  of  this  ten  millions 
would  be  an  unmitigated  robbery  of  the  treasury  to  gratify  the  insolent 
demand  of  Texas  ;  while  southern  statesmen  tauntingly  asserted  that 
they  could  carry  any  measure  that  would  place  money  in  the  pockets  of 
northern  members.  It  was  also  manifest  that  while  many  northern 
men  who  dared  not  vote  for  the  bill,  even  under  the  plea  of  saving  the 
Union,  were  quite  willing  to  extricate  it  from  the  grave  to  which  the 
vote  of  the  House  and  the  Speaker's  decision  had  legally  consigned  it. 

There  was  no  further  difficulty  encountered  in  the  progress  of  the  bill. 
It  reached  its  third  reading  and  final  passage  by  a  vote  of  108  to  97, 
and  many  members  who  were  said  to  have  left  home  poor,  were  reported 
to  have  returned  to  their  families  with  handsome  fortunes  ;  while  the 
only  excuse  which  they  attempted  to  render  for  their  votes  was,  that 
they  were  given  "  to  save  the  Union."  Indeed  there  appeared  to  be  no 
crime  so  damning  that  its  perpetration  could  not  be  justified  by  this 
plea.  The  Union  became  the  professed  ultimate  object  for  which 
American  statesmen  labored  :  To  attain  that  object  the  Constitution 
was  disregarded  ;  and  truth,  justice,  and  human  nature  were  trampled 
upon. 

It  has  been  previously  remarked  that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution, 
and  the  early  American  statesmen,  supposed  that  all  legislation  in 
regard  to  the  capture  of  fugitive  slaves  had  been  specifically  reserved  to 
the  several  States.  But  the  slave  power,  in  1793,  prevailed  on  Con 
gress  to  pass  a  law  on  that  subject.  The  Supreme  Court  subsequently 
decided  that  the  State  Legislatures  could  not  interfere  in  the  matter, 
and  that  Congress  alone  held  constitutional  power  to  pass  laws  in 
regard  to  it.  From  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1793  it  had  been  used 
as  a  means  for  arresting  and  carrying  into  bondage,  free  colored  persons 
from  the  northern  States.  But  the  law  itself  was  odious  from  its 
passage.  The  people  of  the  free  States  cherished  the  love  of  liberty  ; 
they  detested  slavery,  and  most  of  them  refused  to  be  involved  in 
the  crime  of  arresting  slaves.  The  arrest  of  a  man  charged  with  no 
offence  but  the  love  of  liberty,  the  placing  irons  upon  his  limbs  and 
carrying  him  to  interminable  bondage,  could  not  be  regarded  by  an* 
enlightened  Christian  people  otherwise  than  barbarous  ;  and  in  a  moral 
view,  really  as  piratical  as  to  do  the  same  thing  in  Africa.  The  sym- 


332  A    NEW   FUGITIVE    SLAVE   LAW   REPOKTED. 

pathy  of  all  good  men  must  of  necessity  be  with  the  oppressed.  Yet 
at  the  period  of  which  we  are  writing,  the  slave  power  demanded  a 
more  stringent  fugitive  law  than  that  of  1793,  which  itself  was  so  odious 
that  it  could  not  be  enforced  in  many  of  the  States. 

After  the  passage  of  the  act  paying  the  State  of  Texas  ten  million 
of  dollars,  the  pretended  value  of  territory  to  which  she  had  no  title  or 
claim,  southern  statesmen  insisted  that  northern  members  would  concede 
anything  which  the  South  might  demand  ;  and  in  demanding  the  passage 
of  the  fugitive  act  of  1850,  they  appeared  desirous  of  testing  the  degree 
of  servility  to  which  northern  members  of  Congress  had  been  reduced. 

This  bill  was  early  reported  by  Mr.  Mason,  in  the  Senate,  and  the 
celebrated  speech  of  Mr.  Webster  had  been  delivered  upon  it  early  as 
the  7th  March  ;  but  it  did  not  come  up  for  general  debate  in  the  Senate 
until  near  the  close  of  August.  Mr.  Webster  had  left  that  body 
and  was  acting  as  Secretary  of  State  under  Mr.  Fillmore  ;  but  the  bill 
was  supported  by  Messrs.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina  ;  Foote,  of 
Mississippi,  and  Mason,  of  Yirginia.  They  took  the  bold  ground  that  v 
slaves  were  property  in  every  moral  sense,  and  to  the  same  extent  that  horses 
are  property ;  and  that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  intended  that 
Congress  should  compel  the  people  of  the  free  States  to  capture  and 
return  them  to  their  masters  whenever  they  escaped. 

The  passage  of  the  bill  was  ably  opposed  by  Messrs.  Hale  and  Chase. 
They  drew  a  marked  distinction  between  persons  and  property  ;  showed 
the  absurdity  of  the  doctrine  that  Congress  could  have  any  legitimate 
power  whatever  over  the  life  and  liberty  of  innocent  men,  or  authority 
to  place  those  prerogatives  at  the  disposal  of  other  individuals.  They 
maintained  the  very  obvious  philosophy  that  Congress  possessed  no  con 
stitutional  or  moral  power  to  authorize  one  man  or  a  number  of  men 
to  murder  or  enslave  innocent  persons.  That  no  act  authorizing  or 
requiring  the  people  of  the  free  States  to  murder  or  enslave  men  or 
women  who  were  innocent  of  crime  could  confer  moral  or  constitutional 
authority  to  commit  those  crimes  ;  nor  would  it  impose  any  moral  or 
constitutional  obligation  upon  the  fugitive  to  submit  to  be  murdered  or 
enslaved.  They  contended  that  the  second  section  of  the  fourth  article 
of  the  Constitution  gave  to  Congress  no  powers  of  legislation  upon  this 
subject  ;  but  that  such  .powers  had  been  expressly  prohibited  to  Con 
gress  by  the  tenth  article  of  the  amendments. 

On*  the  question  of  engrossing  the  bill,  all  the  Senators  from  the  slave 
States  voted  in  the  affirmative,  and  Messrs.  Sturgeon,  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  Jones,  of  Iowa,  were  the  only  Senators  from  free  States  who  voted 
with  the  South  ;  while  Messrs.  Bradbury,  of  Maine  ;  Upham,  of  Ver- 


THE   VOTE.  333 

mont ;  Davis  and  Winthrop,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Greene,  of  Rhode 
Island  ;  Baldwin  and  Smith,  of  Connecticut  ;  Dayton,  of  New  Jersey  ; 
Cooper,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Chase,  of  Ohio  ;  Dodge  and  Walker,  of 
Wisconsin,  voted  against  the  bill ;  and  Messrs.  Hamlin,  of  Maine  ; 
Hale  and  Norris,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Phelps,  of  Vermont ;  Clark,  of 
Rhode  Island  ;  Seward  and  Dickinson,  of  New  York  ;  Miller,  of  New 
Jersey  ;  Ewing,  of  Ohio  ;*  Bright  and  Whitcomb,  of  Indiana ;  Doug 
las  and  Shields,  of  Illinois  ;  Cass  and  Felch,  of  Michigan,  constituting 
one  half  of  the  Senators  from  the  free  States,  did  not  vote.  This  failure 
to  vote  on  a  bill  so  barbarous  called  down  upon  the  silent  Senators 
severe  criticism.  The  fact  that  they  so  far  stifled  the  voice  of  their 
several  States  on  a  subject  of  such  importance  was  regarded  by  both 
parties  as  unstatesmanlike,  and  unworthy  of  American  Senators. 

The  bill  having  passed  the  Senate,  was  taken  up  in  the  House  of  Re 
presentatives,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Thompson,  of  Pennsylvania,  who, 
having  made  a  speech  in  favor  of  its  passage,  moved  the  previous 
question.  There  was  great  indignation  felt  at  the  attempt  to  press  such 
a  bill  through  the  House  without  debate,  and  a  motion  was  made  to  lay 
it  on  the  table.  It  was  the  expectation  and  confident  belief  that  every 
member  really  opposed  to  the  bill  would  vote  to  lay  it  on  the  table,  as 
that  would  have  been  a  final  defeat  of  the  measure.  On  this  motion 
the  members  voted  as  follows  : 
MAINE.  Yea — Messrs.  Otis,  Sawtell,  and  Stetson, 3 

Nay — Messrs.  Fuller,  Gary,  and  Littlefield, 3 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.     Yea — Mr.  Tuck, 1 

NAY — -Messrs.  Hebbard  and  Peaslee, 2 

MASSACHUSETTS.     Yea — Messrs.    Allen,    Duncan,    Fowler,    and 

Mason, 4 

Nay— Mr.  Elliott, 1 

VERMONT.     Yea — Messrs.  Henry,  Hebard,  and  Meacham,  ...     3 

RHODE  ISLAND.     Yea — Messrs.  Dixon  and  King, 2 

CONNECTICUT.     Yea — Messrs.  Booth,  Butler,  and  Waldo,    ...     3 
NEW  YORK.     Yea — Messrs.  Bennett,  Burrows,  Clark,  Gott,  Gould, 
Jackson,   John    A.    King,   Preston     King,  Matteson, 
McKissock,   Nelson,    Ramsey,    Sacket,    Schermerhorn, 
Schoolcraft,  Sylvester,  and  Underbill, 17 

Nay — Messrs.  Briggs,  Brooks,  and  Walden,        ....     3 

•»  President  Taylor  died  in  July,  and  the  Vice-President  Fillmore  succeeded  him  in  office,  and 
palled  to  his  assistance  Senator  Webster ;  and  Mr.  Winthrop  was  appointed  to  fill  that  Senator's 
place.  Mr  Corwin,  of  Ohio,  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  and  Mr.  Ewing  was 
appointed  to  fill  his  place  in  the  Senate, 


334:  ANALYSIS    OF   THE   VOTE. 

NEW  JERSEY.     Yea — Messrs.  Hay  and  King,        ,2 

PENNSYLVANIA.     Yea — Messrs.  Calvin,  Casey,  Chandler,  Friedly, 
Hampton,    Howe,    More,    Reed,  Stevens,    Mann,    and 

McLanahan, 11 

Nay — Messrs.    Butler,    Dimniock,    Robbins,    Ross,   and 

Thompson, 5 

OHIO.     Yea — Cable,   Campbell,    Corwin,    Crowell,   Evans,   Gid- 
dings,  Hunter,  Morris,  Root,  Thurman,  Vinton,  Whit- 

tlesey,  and  Wood, 13 

Nay — Carter,  Disney,  Hoagland,  Miller,  and  Taylor,      .     5 
INDIANA.     Yea — Messrs.  Halloway,  Harlan,  Julian,  Robinson,    .     4 
Nay — Messrs.   Albertson,  Dunham,  Fitch,  Gorman,   Mc 
Donald,  and  McGarghy, 6 

ILLINOIS.     Yea. — Mr.  Wentworth, 1 

Nay — :Messrs.   Bissel,   Harris,    McCleruand,    Richardson, 

and  Young, 5 

MICHIGAN.     Yea — Messrs.  Bingham  and  Sprague, 2 

WISCONSIN.     Yea — Messrs.  Cole,  Doty,  and  Durkee,     ....     3 

IOWA.     Yea — Mr.  Leffler, 1 

There  were  sixty-eight  votes  from  the  free  States  in  favor  of  laying 
the  bill  on  the  table,  and  thirty  against  it  ;  all  members  from  the  slave 
States  voted  against  the  motion,  which  was  lost.  The  bill  was  then 
put  upon  its  passage,  and  Messrs.  Carter  and  Disney,  of  Ohio  ;  Briggs, 
of  New  York  ;  and  Fitch,  of  Indiana,  changed  positions,  and  voted 
against  the  bill,  which  they  had  just  voted  to  preserve  from  defeat. 
While  Messrs.  Andrews,  Palmer,  Phoenix,  Spaulding,  Reynolds,  Rose, 
White,  Risley,  Bokee,  Conger,  and  Duer,  of  New  York  ;  Baker  and 
RJchardsori,  of  Illinois  ;  Cleveland,  of  Connecticut ;  Gilniore,  Levii^ 
Ness,  Ogle,  Pitman,  Strong,  and  Willmot,  of  Pennsylvania;  Ashman 
and  Grinnell,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Newel  and  Vandyke,  of  New  Jersey  ; 
Schenck  and  Sweetzer,  of  Ohio,  failed  to  vote  ;  but  such  was  the  feeling 
among  the  people,  that  these  efforts  to  avoid  responsibility  by  refusing  to 
vote,  brought  upon  silent  members  more  disfavor  than  they  would  have 
incurred  by  voting  for  the  bill,  which  was  passed,  105  votes  to  73. 

The  bill  declared  it  the  duty  of  all  good  citizens  to  be  active  and 
vigilant  in  their  efforts  to  arrest  and  return  fugitive  slaves  ;  and  affixed 
severe  penalty  on  every  attempt  to  aid  or  assist  the  fleeing  bond 
man  to  escape  the  fangs  of  the  human  bloodhounds  who  were  pursuing 
him. 

The  cruelties  which  this  bill  authorized  and  required  of  northern  citi 
zens  were  so  revolting  to  the  public  conscience,  so  directly  at  war  with 


CHARACTER   OF   THE   BILL.  335 

Christian  civilization,  that  it  was  denounced  in  all  parts  of  the  free  States 
as  disgraceful  to  the  nation  and  the  age  in  which  it  was  enacted.  Mr. 
Fillrnore,  the  President,  with  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Corwin  among  the 
members  -of  his  Cabinet,  approved  the  bill  and  it  became  a  law,  so  far  as 
human  enactments  violative  of  the  natural  rights  of  mankind  can  be 
called  laws.  Yet  the  action  of  the  President,  aided  by  the  influence  of 
a  majority  of  Congress  as  well  as  of  his  Cabinet,  and  by  that  of  his 
friends  throughout  the  free  States,  could  not  stop  the  progress  of  that  de 
testation  in  which  the  people  of  the  free  States  regarded  this  undisguised 
attempt  to  make  them  the  catchpoles  of  southern  slaveholders. 

Mr.  Webster  now  began  to  comprehend  the  sad  mistake  he  had  made 
'  in  his  speech  on  the  7th  March,  and  yet  hoping  to  save  himself  and 
friends  from  the  odium  which  seemed  to  await  the  advocates  of  this  bill, 
he  wrote  Professor  Stuart  of  the  Theological  Seminary  of  Andover,  re 
questing  that  venerable  divine  to  address  the  Christian  public  on  the 
subject.  The  able  professor  now  turned  his  attention  to  the  plan  of 
guiding  the  religious  sentiment  of  the  country  to  a  favorable  considera 
tion  of  this  odious  law.  He  published  an  essay  entitled  "  Conscience 
and  the  Constitution,"  urging  the  capture  and  return  of  fugitive  slaves 
as  a  religious  duty.  Other  divines  united  their  influence  with  that  of 
Professor  Stuart,  and  a  strong  effort  was  put  forth  to  prostitute  the 
religion  of  the  free  States  to  the  commission  of  the  revolting  crime  of 
capturing  and  reenslaving  professed  Christians  who  were  fleeing  from 
bondage.  Nor  should  we  forget  that  the  argument  in  favor  of  the  pas 
sage  of  the  law  as  well  as  in  favor  of  its  execution  consisted  in  the  asser 
tion  that  it  was  "  necessary  to  save  the  Union." 

But  a  free  and  enlightened  people  could  not  be  misled  on  a  measure 
so  barbarous.  They  pronounced  those  divines  who  advocated  the  cap 
ture  of  slaves  "  hypocrites  unworthy  of  Christian  Fellowship,"  and  many 
statesmen  and  members  of  Congress  descended  to  premature  political 
graves  in  consequence  of  their  advocacy  of  this  measure,*  and  no  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  advocates  of  slavery  seemed  capable  of  staying  the 
feeling  of  indignation  which  appeared  to  prevail  throughout  the  free 
States. 

But  each  surrender  of  northern  rights  and  northern  honor  most  ob 
viously  confirmed  southern  men  in  the  conviction  that  the  northern 


*  Reverend  Orville  Dewey,  a  clergyman  of  the  Unitarian  Church,  distinguished  for  ability  and 
learning,  in  a  public  lecture  was  said  to  have  declared  that  he  would  seize  his  "  own  mother  and 
return  her  to  slavery  in  order  to  save  the  Union.'11  The  learned  divine  modified  his  assertion,  de 
claring  that  he  used  the  word  "  'brother'1'1  instead  of  "  mother,"  but  this  modification  appeared  in 
no  degree  satisfactory  to  the  public  mind. 


336  A    SENATORIAL   AFFRAY. 

people  were  destitute  of  that  moral  courage,  that  unbending  integrity, 
which  would  enable  them  to  maintain  a  government  separate  from  the 
slave  States.  Southern  men  began  to  utter  the  maxim  that  "  cotton 
is  king,"  and  many  of  them  believed  the  commercial  importance  of 
that  article  rose  so  far  superior  to  all  other  considerations,  that  no 
abuse,  no  degradation  of  the  North,  would  stimulate  their  statesmen  to 
a  resistance  of  southern  dictation  :  and  this  idea  was  frequently  put 
forth  after  the  passage  of  the  fugitive  slave  act,  and  few  northern  mem 
bers  repudiated  the  dishonorable  imputation. 

It  was  late  in  September  before  the  bill  to  admit  California  came  up 
for  action.  It  had  been  delayed  near  seven  months  in  order  to  pass  the 
bill  to  pay  Texas  ten  millions  dollars  and  this  fugitive  slave  act.  As 
early  as  the  12th  March  the  President  had  transmitted  to  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress  copies  of  the  Constitution  of  California  and  the  cre 
dentials  of  her  Senators  and  Representatives  ;  but  in  the  Senate  the  vote 
on  admitting  that  State  had  been  postponed  until  the  13th  August, 
when  all  the  Senators  from  the  free  States,  with  Messrs.  Bell,  of  Tennes 
see  ;  Benton,  of  Missouri  j  Wales  and  Spruance,  of  Delaware,  and  Un 
derwood,  of  Kentucky,  voted  for  the  bill,  and  all  the  Senators  from  the 
slave  States  except  those  named  voted  against  it.  *• 

The  debate  had  been  able,  at  times  it  was  animated,  and  aroused  much 
feeling  on  the  part  of  those  who  participated  in  it.  Indeed  slaveholding 
members  could  not  disguise  their  chagrin  and  mortification  at  seeing  a 
free  State  formed  from  the  territory  acquired  at  their  instance  for  the 
avowed  purpose  of  establishing  slave  States.  Mr.  Benton  had  long  en 
tertained  the  conviction  that  Mr.  Calhoun  and  other  leading  statesmen 
of  the  South  intended  to  dissolve  the  Union  and  erect  a  southern  slave- 
holding  confederacy.  For  this  conviction  he  became  obnoxious  to  those 
who  were  plotting  the  destruction  of  the  Union  in  order  to  eternize  the 
institution  of  slavery. 

Mr.  Foote,  of  Mississippi,  appeared  desirous  of  a  personal  altercation 
with  the  venerable  Senator  ;  but  up  to  that  period  members  of  the  Senate 
had  seldom  forgotten  the  dignity  due  to  their  stations.  Mr.  Foote  appear 
ed  incapable  of  restraining  his  feelings,  and  his  language  became  so  offensive 
that  the  gallant  old  colonel  appeared  unable  to  withstand  it  longer.  He  was 
a  man  of  powerful  frame,  though  sixty  years  of  age,  while  Mr.  Foote  was 
younger  and  very  properly  numbered  among  the  "  light-weights."  Ben- 
ton's  courage  had  been  tested  on  the  field,  and  although  Foote  had  also 
met  his  foe  in  the  duella,  his  firmness  under  danger  was  not  so  univer 
sally  acknowledged.  When  Mr.  Footers  language  appeared  no  longer 
endurable,  Mr.  Benton  rose  and  stepping  into  the  outer  aisle  proceeded 


SOUTHERN  PROTESTS   AGAINST   CALIFORNIA.  337 

with  rapid  strides  directly  towards  Mr.  Foote,  with  the  intention  as  he 
stated  of  passing  out  of  the  chamber  at  the  front  door.  Mr.  Foote 
seeing  the  stalwart  form  of  his  opponent  approaching  under  evident  ex 
citement,  concluded  that  "  discretion  was  the  better  part  of  valor,"  and 
starting  from  his  seat  retreated  towards  the  presiding  officer,  at  the  same 
time  drawing  a  pistol,  apparently  intending  to  shoot  his  supposed  assailant. 
This  "presentation  of  arms"  exerted  an  electric  effect  upon  the  spirit  of 
Col.  Benton,  who  now  in  a  loud  voice  cried,  "  stand  back,  let  him  shoot? 
as  he  violently  separated  his  clothing  and  exposed  his  bosom  to  the  ex 
pected  shot  of  Mr.  Foote.  Instantly  every  Senator  was  upon  his  feet, 
some  calling  to  order  and  others  rushing  between  the  parties.  Several 
Senators  seized  Col.  Benton  and  conducted  him  back  to  his  seat,  when 
he  became  unmanageable,  and  breaking  from  those  around  him,  again 
rushed  towards  Foote,  using  language  too  emphatic  for  record.  Other 
Senators  rushed  between  them,  disarmed  Foote  and  conducted  Mr  Ben- 
ton  again  to  his  seat,  and  restored  order  ;  and  the  Senate  proceeded  with 
the  business  before  it. 

Mr.  Benton  was  a  Democrat,  had  long  been  a  leading  member  of  that 
party,  and  was  more  perfectly  informed  as  to  the  intentions  of  southern 
men  in  regardfto  secession  than  any  other  man  not  engaged  in  the  plot. 
And  while  Mr.  Webster  in  his  speech  on  the  tth  March  had  expressed 
confidence  in  the  "  Nashville  Convention,"  Mr.  Benton  was  impatient 
at  hearing  any  man  doubt  that  the  object  of  leading  southern  men  and 
of  that  convention  was  the  disruption  of  the  Union  ;  and  the  scene  just 
related  may  be  regarded  as  the  first  senatorial  demonstration  of  violence 
between  the  lovers  of  the  Union  and  Secessionists.* 

The  feeling  of  southern  statesmen  and  people  in  regard  to  the  exclu 
sion  of  slavery  from  California  was  illustrated  by  public  meetings,  held  in 
Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi,  at  which  resolutions,  declaring  the 
admission  of  California  as  a  free  State  would  be  a  stupendous  fraud  upon 
the  people  of  the  slave  States,  and  threatening  a  separation  from  the 
free  States  unless  slavery  were  admitted  to  all  our  territory  south  of  36 
deg.  30  min.  north  latitude. 

But  these  demonstrations  could  not  intimidate  northern  members. 
The  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives  upon  the  admission  of  Cali 
fornia  as  a  free  State  showed  151  members  in  favor  of  that  measure,  and 
only  5t  against  it,  nearly  all  of  whom  were  slaveholders. 

This  incident  will  long  constitute  an  important  era  in  our  political 
history.  We  have  already  stated,  that  near  the  close  of  the  thirtieth 

*  At  the  time  of  writing  these  sketches,  A.D.  1868,  Mr.  Foote  is  an  active  member  of  the  Confede 
rate  Congress;  but  Colonel  Beaton  was  an  unwavering  friend  of  the  Union  until  big  death,  in  1858. 

22 


338  CULMINATION    OF    SLAVERY. 

Congress,  when  the  House  of  Representatives  defeated  the  adoption  of 
the  Senate's  amendment  to  the  civil  and  diplomatic  bill,  which  was  in 
tended  to  establish  slavery  in  California,  that  institution  passed  its  cul 
minating  point ;  and  from  that  date  its  permanent  decay  and  final  disso 
lution  commenced. 

From  the  decline  of  slavery  that  of  the  whig  and  democratic  organi 
zations  could  not  be  separated.  Both  of  these  parties  had  sought  to 
propitiate  the  slave  power.  Each  numbered  many  slaveholders  as 
members  ;  and  the  northern  wing  of  each  appeared  perfectly  conscious 
that  without  the  support  of  at  least  a  portion  of  the  slaveholding  in 
terest  it  must  fail.  The  lovers  of  liberty,  under  the  name  of  "  Free- 
soilers,"  were  united,  compact  and  determined  in  resisting  every  encroach 
ment  of  the  slave  power.  Every  struggle  tended  to  bring  before  the 
people  the  moral  power  of  those  who  based  their  action  upon  truth  and 
justice,  while  they  constantly  developed  the  crimes  of  slavery  to  the 
public  view. 

It  may  prove  useful  for  future  statesmen  and  politicians  to  understand 
that  leading  Whigs  and  leading  Democrats,  instead  of  attempting  to 
reform  their  parties  or  to  conform  their  own  action  to  the  laws  of  truth 
and  immutable  justice,  continued  their  efforts  to  destroy  tthe  reputation 
and  influence  of  those  who  stood  forth  most  boldly  as  the  supporters  of 
freedom  and  the  equal  rights  of  mankind  :  And  the  writer  will  be  ex 
cused  for  referring  to  himself  so  far  as  to  say  that  he  became  the  subject 
apparently  of  much  hatred  and  odium  among  the  politicians  of  both 
parties.  They  appeared  to  regard  every  effort  of  his  against  slavery  as 
aimed  at  those  parties,  and  during  this  first  session  of  the  thirty-first 
Congress,  as  the  writer  and  his  friends  had  apparently  defeated  the  ex 
tension  of  slavery  into  California,  and  exposed  the  corruptions  of  the 
bill  paying  the  debts  of  Texas,  the  feeling  against  him  appeared  to 
know  no  bounds.  He  was  charged  with  purloining  papers  from  the 
General  Post-office  :  And  the  charge  was  published  simultaneously  in 
the  leading  whig  papers  of  Cleveland,  Philadelphia,  New  York  and 
Boston.  Its  appearance  in  those  papers  gave  the  author  the  first  notice 
that  suspicion  of  crime  had  ever  rested  on  him.  He  at  once  demanded 
an  investigation  ;  but  such  was  the  feeling  of  the  House,  then  under 
democratic  rule,  that  the  members  would  not  grant  a  committee  to 
examine  the  case.  But  one  of  the  Assistant  Postmaster  Generals,  being 
a  Whig,  sent  to  the  House  a  reiteration  of  the  charge,  to  which  the 
author  promptly  responded,  declaring  the  Assistant  Postmaster  General 
guilty  of  falsehood  and  a  violation  of  official  duty  :  and  pledged  him 
self  to  show  those  facts  if  the  House  would  grant  a  committee.  This 


DECLINE    OF    SLAVERY.  339 

could  not  well  be  refused.  A  slaveholding  Speaker  selected  men  in  no 
respect  friendly  to  the  author,  either  personally  or  politically.  They 
met,  and  the  first  witness  examined  was  the  Assistant  Postmaster  Gene 
ral  who  had  reiterated  the  charges :  But  after  a  cross-examination  he 
asked  the  committee  to  place  on  their  journal  the  fact  that  he  then  with 
drew  all  imputation  against  the  author.  To  this  the  accused  responded, 
saying  that  the  charge  had  been  made  and  could  not  be  recalled  :  He 
therefore  desired  to  disprove  every  circumstance  alleged.  To  this  propo 
sition  the  committee  consented,  sent  to  Ohio  and  Boston  for  witnesses, 
and  having  taken  the  testimony,  reported  the  charges  to  have  been  made 
without  any  foundation  in  truth  ;  and  the  slander  which  was  intended  to 
destroy  the  reputation  of  an  individual  recoiled  with  great  effect  upon 
the  party  whose  interest  it  was  intended  to  subserve. 

Finding  that  the  popular  feeling  was  aroused  against  the  slave  trade, 
which  was  carried  on  with  much  activity  in  the  City  of  Washington,  the 
Senate  passed  a  bill  entitled  "  A  bill  to  abolish  the  slave  trade  in  the 
District  of  Columbia."  But  although  this  was  its  title,  it  merely  pro 
hibited  the  bringing  of  slaves  from  the  surrounding  country  to  that  city 
for  market.  It  also  authorized  the  Common  Council  of  Washington  to 
abate  as  a  public  nuisance  any  slave-pen  or  house  kept  as  a  market  for 
slaves  ;  but  left  the  slaves  of  the  city  liable  to  purchase  and  sale  as  they 
had  been  previously  to  the  passage  of  the  act.  The  House  at  once 
passed  the  bill  as  it  came  from  the  Senate. 

The  passage  of  this  bill  was  a  still  further  yielding  to  the  demands  of 
the  people  of  the  free  States,  and  was  viewed  by  the  friends  of  liberty 
as  an  important  indication  of  further  success. 

With  the  passage  of  this  bill  ;  with  the  admission  of  California  as  a 
member  of  our  common  sisterhood  of  States,  as  well  as  by  the  passage 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  act  and  the  grant  of  ten  million  dollars  to  Texas, 
the  first  session  of  the  thirty-first  Congress  may  well  be  regarded  as 
holding  a  prominent  place  on  the  page  of  our  political  history.  As  the 
slave  power  passed  its  culminating  point  and  began  its  descent  to  obli 
vion,  its  corruption  was  developed  more  vividly  to  the  public  view  : 
And  as  its  power  began  to  decline,  it  was  able  to  call  to  its  aid  the 
mercenary  propensity  of  northern  men,  and  thereby  perpetrate  crimes 
which  slaveholding  influence  could  not  alone  have  effected. 


34:0  CRIMES   PEBPETBATED  UNDER  THE  FUGITIVE   ACT. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE    WORKINGS   OF  THE    FUGITIVE    SLAVE    ACT. 

1850 ,  THE  vacation  of  Congress  afforded  the  President  and  members 
of  that  body  an  opportunity  to  witness  the  operations  of  the 
fugitive  slave  act.  The  first  victim  under  that  barbarous  enactment 
proved  to  be  a  free  man  of  Philadelphia,  sent  by  the  commissioners,  at 
public  expense^  as  a  slave  to  Maryland.  In  this  respect  it  may  be  said 
to  have  met  the  designs  and  expectations  of  its  friends.  But  when  he 
reached  the  plantation  from  which  it  was  alleged  he  had  escaped,  no  one 
recognized  him,  even  the  supposed  master  declared  he  had  never  seen 
him,  and  he  was  permitted  to  return  to  his  home  and  to  freedom  at  his 
own  expense. 

A.  husband  and  wife  escaped  from  Georgia,  and  after  much  toil  and 
constant  danger  reached  Boston.  The  master  pursued  them  and  at 
tempted  to  arrest  them  ;  but  the  husband  manfully  defended  himself  and 
wife  ;  drove  off  the  master,  who  could  find  no  one  to  sympathize  with  or 
to  aid  him  ;  and  he  returned  to  his  own  State,  published  a  narrative  of 
his  adventure  and  complained  of  the  inefficiency  of  the  fugitive  slave 
act. 

In  the  autumn  of  that  year  ten  slaves  escaped  from  Maryland,  and 
while  in  the  mountains  of  Somerset  County,  Pennsylvania,  were  dis 
covered  and  fired  upon  by  those  pursuing  them.  Three  were  killed, 
the  others  captured  and  taken  back  to  servitude  j  but  no  attempt  was 
made  to  arrest  or  punish  the  murderers.* 

These  crimes,  perpetrated  under  color  of  the  fugitive  act,  led  to 
the  belief  that  Congress  had  extended  those  barbarous  laws  of  the  slave 
States,  which  authorize  the  master  or  his  agent  to  shoot  escaping  slaves, 
into  the  free  States,  and  greatly  contributed  to  increase  the  odium  which 
already  rested  upon  it. 

In  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania,  a  deputy  marshal,  with  legal  pro 
cess,  broke  into  the  dwelling  of  a  citizen  in  order  to  arrest  a  slave  who 
was  sleeping  in  the  chamber.  But  the  owner  of  the  dwelling  and  his 
wife  assailed  the  marshal  with  weapons  and  occupied  his  attention  while 
the  slave  escaped  through  a  window. 

*  This  statement  is  made  upon  the  authority  of  newspapers  published  in  that  part  of  Pennayl- 
fmtda,  and  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  members  of  Congress  from  that  State. 


TUE  PRESIDENT   CONGRATULATES   THE   COUNTRY.  34:1 

While  these  circumstances  convinced  the  friends  of  liberty  that  the 
fugitive  slave  act  was  arousing  the  public  mind  to  the  horrors  of  that 
institution,  and  was  therefore  exerting  an  influence  which  must  eventually 
eradicate  slavery  from  the  American  soil,  President  Fillmore  appeared 
to  view  them  quite  differently. 

On  the  reassembling  of  Congress,  in  his  annual  message  he  referred  to 
the  fugitive  act  and  the  corrupt  assumption  of  Texas  debts  approvingly  ; 
spoke  of  them  as  concession  and  compromises  necessary  to  allay  the  asper 
ities  and  animosities  which  he  alleged  were  rapidly  alienating  one  section 
of  the  country  from  another.  In  his  comments  he  made  no  distinction 
between  right  and  wrong,  between  freedom  and  slavery,  or  between  virtue 
and  crime.  But  in  this  he  followed  the  example  of  those  who  were  more 
experienced  in  public  life.  Moral  principle  was  at  that  period  entirely 
excluded  from  political  action  :  and  the  philosophy  which  then  pre 
vailed  in  our  Federal  Government  taught  that  crime  and  corruption 
were  necessary  to  maintain  every  form  of  government.  But  the  ad 
vocates  of  justice  appeared  more  conscious  of  their  moral  power 
than  at  any  former  period.  California  had  been  admitted  to  the 
Union  as  a  free  State,  and  now  stood  an  enduring  monument  of  their 
fidelity  and  political  prowess.  The  fugitive  slave  act  had  proven 
more  barbarous  than  they  had  expected,  and  now  threatened  to  over 
whelm  with  disgrace  those  who  had  lent  their  influence  for  its  enactment. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  while  the  President  in  obedience  to 
the  demands  of  the  slave  power  was  doing  all  he  could,  assisted  by  his 
Cabinet  and  by  large  majorities  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  to  induce 
the  people  of  the  free  States  to  capture  and  send  back  to  servitude  the 
fleeing  bondmen  of  the  South,  the  people  of  that  region  continued  to 
seize  and  enslave  the  colored  citizens  of  the  free  States  who  happened 
to  travel  in  the  South  without  protection.  And  whenever  a  northern 
ship  entered  a  southern  port  with  colored  sailors  on  board,  they  were 
seized  and  imprisoned  until  the  vessel  sailed,  when  the  captain  or  any 
friend  might  appear  and  pay  charges  and  the  imprisoned  sailor  would 
be  permitted  to  go  on  board  his  vessel  and  depart ;  but  if  neither  the 
captain  nor  any  friend  of  the  sailor  paid  such  charges,  he  was  sold  into 
slavery. 

The  people  of  Massachusetts,  generally  active  in  good  works,  were 
anxious  to  prevent  the  enslavement  of  free  blacks,  and  sent  one  of  her 
most  respected  attorneys  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  to  institute 
judicial  proceedings  in  order  to  test  the  constitutionality  of  those  southern 
laws  ;  but  he  was  driven  from  the  city  and  from  the  State  by  mob 
violence  with  the  approval  of  its  authorities. 


342  FUNDAMENTAL  DOCTKINES   ASSEKTED. 

This  outrage  upon  the  dignity  and  constitutional  rights  of  Massachu 
setts  had  the  effect  to  stir  up  a  more  intense  detestation  of  the  fugitive 
slave  act,  to  which  Mr.  Webster  and  the  President,  and  the  supporters 
of  slavery,  had  attached  their  political  fortunes. 

These  circumstances  developed  more  and  more  distinctly  the  great 
permeating  issue  between  the  "  submissionists "  ^and  the  philosophic 
reformers,  who  maintained  that,  to  enjoy  the  light  of  the  sun,  to  breathe 
the  air  of  heaven,  to  drink  the  waters  of  earth,  to  obtain  food,  procure 
raiment  and  habitation,  were  natural  rights  pertaining  to  every  human 
soul  while  innocent,  conferred  liy  the  Creator,  and  EVER  TO  BE  HELD  SACRED 

FROM   INVASION,  BY  INDIVIDUALS  AND  BY  GOVERNMENTS.       That  tllCSC    TlglltS 

were  held  at  the  will  of  God,  which  constituted  a  "  higher  law  n  than 
human  enactments  or  human  constitutions  :  that  the  violation  of  this 
law  of  heaven  constituted  crime,  whether  it  were  done  by  individuals  or 
by  men  holding  office,  or  acting  as  legislators,  professing  to  authorize  its 
commission. 

The  submissionists  denied  these  fundamental  doctrines,  sneered  at  those 
who  held  them,  and  expressed  their  contempt  for  men  who  defined  the 
legitimate  boundaries  of  human  governments,  as  "higher  law  men  f  but 
were  careful  never  to  argue  the  question  nor  to  reason  upon  it. 

Southern  members,  however,  taunted  the  Administration  and  its  friends, 
asserting  that  the  "  higher  law"  men  controlled  the  sentiment  of  Massa 
chusetts  to  such  an  extent  that  the  fugitive  slave  act  could  not  be  enforced 
in  Boston.  The  idea  that  an  act  of  Congress,  however  despotic  and  bar 
barous,  could  not  be  enforced  among  the  law  abiding  people  of  that  city, 
so  distinguished  for  its  obedience  to  law,  appeared  to  arouse,  the  pride  of 
every  friend  of  the  Administration.  An  approved  catchpoll  was  sent 
to  Boston  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  this  flagitious  enactment,  in  the 
presence  of  that  Christian  people. 

A  fugitive  named  Shadrach  was  discovered,  and  the  regular  warrant 
for  his  arrest  procured,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  officer.  In  open 
day,  in  the  presence  of  the  people  in  the  city  of  Boston,  a  Christian  was 
captured,  pinioned,  and  led  away,  as  was  then  supposed  to  interminable 
slavery.  The  people  looked  on  and  sighed  and  wept  at  seeing  a  fellow- 
being,  whose  soul  like  their  own  was  clustering  with  immortal  hopes, 
thus  led  to  the  sacrifice. 

The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  by  statute  had  forbidden  the  im 
prisonment  of  fugitive  slaves  in  their  jails,  and  the  marshal  conducted 
his  victim  to  the  United  States  court-house,  the  only  sanctuary  for  such 
crimes.  The  commissioner  being  unable  to  attend  the  proper  examina 
tion  that  day,  the  fugitive  was  placed  in  custody  of  three  or  four 


AN  IMPORTANT  SLAVE  CASE.  343 

assistant  catchpolls,  who  were  directed  to  hold  him  in  custody  until  the 
next  day. 

That  was  a  night  of  Badness  and  sorrow  to  the  philanthropists  and 
patriots  of  Boston.  Their  fathers  had  led  in  the  great  Revolution  of 
1776,  and  many  had  died  to  establish  the  doctrine  that  all  men  hold 
from  the  "  Creator  an  inalienable  right  to  life  and  liberty."  Yet 
after  the  lapse  of  seventy-five  years,  they  were  compelled  to  witness 
a  scene  of  barbarism,  which  no  patriot  of  the  Revolution  ever  con 
templated. 

But  a  few  colored  men  of  that  city,  actuated  by  that  law  of  our 
nature  which  never  fails  to  call  forth  sympathy  for  the  oppressed, 
gathered  around  that  court-house,  entered  its  chamber,  bade  the  minions 
of  slavery  to  stand  aside,  released  Shadrach,  and  placed  him  in  a 
carriage,  which  rapidly  hurried  him  toward  a  land  of  liberty. 

The  news  of  this  escape  reached  Washington  by  telegraph.  The 
friends  of  freedom  were  delighted.  They  viewed  the  whole  thing  as 
a  ludicrous  exhibition  of  the  folly  of  attempting  to  enforce  crime  by 
Congressional  enactment.  But  the  effect  on  the  President  and  Cabinet, 
and  the  advocates  of  submission  to  southern  dictation,  was  quite  dif 
ferent.  They  exhibited  a  degree  of  vexation,  of  consternation  and  moral 
cowardice,  which  excited  laughter  among  their  opponents.  The  Presi 
dent  called  his  Cabinet  together  for  consultation,  and  the  Executive  of 
thirty  million  people,  with  his  constitutional  advisers,  sat  in  grave  delibe 
ration  upon  the  best  means  of  averting  the  evils  arising  from  the  escape 
of  a  friendless  negro. 

But  Mr.  Webster  had  staked  his  hopes  for  the  Presidency  upon  the' 
favor  of  the  slave  power.  He  was  now  the  ruling  member  of  the  Ad 
ministration,  and  had  no  other  course  left  than  to  carry  out  his  plan, 
by  enforcing  the  enactment  which  he  had  advocated.  The  President 
and  the  other  members  of  his  Cabinet  had  considered  the  act  and 
approved  it,  when  it  first  passed  Congress  ;  the  President  had  again 
indorsed  it  in  his  annual  message,  and  they  now  regarded  the  success 
of  the  Administration  dependent  upon  the  popularity  of  this  enactment, 
which  was  rapidly  becoming  detested  by  the  people. 

The  result  of  this  deliberation  was  a  proclamation  by  the  President, 
calling  on  the  good  people  of  the  United  States  to  be  active  and  vigi 
lant  in  enforcing  the  laws,  and  a  general  order  from  the  Secretary  of 
War,  addressed  to  the  officers,  non-commissioned  officers  and  soldiers  of 
the  United  States,  to  be  present  at  their  posts  of  duty,  and  ready  to  aid 
the  civil  authorities  in  enforcing  the  law:  And  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
issued  a  similar  order,  addressed  to  that  arm  of  our  national  defence. 


344  THE   NATIONAL   BURLESQUE   CONTINUED. 

The  proclamation  and  general  orders  were  published  in  the  papers  of 
the  following  day. 

Nor  did  this  national  farce  end  here.  The  further  proceedings  in 
relation  to  the  escape  of  this  friendless  negro  exhibits  the  feeling  and 
policy  of  the  Administration  more  clearly  than  any  other  facts  which  can 
be  placed  upon  the  page  of  history. 

The  President  and  Mr.  Webster,  and  Mr.  Corwin,  of  the  Cabinet,  had 
been  Whigs  during  their  whole  lives.  The  President  had  been  elected 
as  a  Whig,  and  Messrs.  Webster  and  Corwin  held  seats  in  the 
Senate  as  Whigs,  when  aspirants  to  cabinet  offices.  They  were  sup 
posed  to  represent  the  whig  party,  which  was  by  them  fully  committed 
to  the  support  of  the  fugitive  act,  and  they  felt  it  was  very  desirable 
that  the  Whigs,  as  a  body,  should  sustain  it. 

Mr.  Clay,  now  far  advanced  in  life,  was  still  a  member  of  the  Senate, 
and  moved  a  resolution  calling  on  the  President  for  information  whether 
resistance  to  the  laws  was  manifested  in  any  part  of  the  United  States. 
2d.  The  means  adopted  to  suppress  such  resistance.  3d.  Whether 
there  be  or  be  not  defects  in  the  existing  laws  for  the  capture  and  return 
of  fugitive  slaves  ? 

Mr.  Clay  treated  the  subject  as  a  matter  of  grave  importance,  and 
Messrs.  Davis  and  Foote,  of  Mississippi,  sustained  the  views  of  Mr.  Clay. 

Mr.  Hale  reminded  Senators  that  there  was  but  a  single  step  from  the 
sublime  to  the  ridiculous,  and  declared  his  conviction  that  the  Senate 
was  about  to  take  that  step.  But  the  resolutions  were  adopted  by  an 
almost  unanimous  vote. 

On  the  21st  February,  the  President  replied  to  the  resolutions  in  a 
message  of  some  length,  declaring  that  nothing  could  have  been  more 
unexpected  to  him  than  the  escape  of  the  negro  :  nor  had  he  supposed 
the  people  of  Boston  would  set  the  laws  of  the  United  States  at  defi 
ance.  He  characterized  the  escape  of  Shadrach  as  "  flagitious,"  and 
assured  the  Senate  that  in  his  opinion,  had  the  people  anticipated  such 
resistance  of  the  laws,  thousands  would  have  put  forth  their  best 
endeavors  to  prevent  it.  In  the  whole  message  there  was  no  indica 
tion  that  the  President  doubted  the  moral  duty  of  Shadrach  to  sur 
render  his  manhood,  return  to  bondage,  and  doom  his  offspring  to  chains 
and  sighs,  and  tears  and  bitter  suffering  :  He  spoke  of  the  escape  of 
Shadrach  as  "  deplorable  ;"  regretted  that  Massachusetts  had  prohibited 
the  use  of  her  jails  for  the  imprisonment  of  fugitive  slaves,  declaring  the 
negroes  who  assisted  Shadrach  to  escape  were  guilty  of  "  insurrection;" 
and  transmitted  copies  of  his  proclamation  and  general  orders,  with  his 
message,  to  the  Senate. 


ME.    CHASE   MEETS   THE   QUESTION.  345 

To  carry  out  this  solemn  burlesque,  Mr.  Clay  moved  the  reference  of 
the  message  and  documents  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  with  in 
structions  to  report  with  all  convenient  dispatch ,  such  further  legislation  as 
they  might  deem  necessary  for  the  faithful  execution  of  the  fugitive 
law.* 

Mr.  Hale  declared  his  entire  satisfaction  with  the  whole  procedure. 
Said  the  President  was  evidently  rendering  his  administration  ridiculous: 
That  nothing  could  have  contributed  to  that  purpose  more  than  his  pro 
clamation  :  That  the  President's  attempt  to  vindicate  the  fugitive  act 
must,  in  the  nature  of  things,  prove  abortive. 

These  remarks  called  out  Mr.  Clay,  who,  with  some  feeling,  declared 
that  the  abolitionists  throughout  the  country  were  stimulating  the  ne 
groes  to  defend  themselves  when  pursued  by  their  masters. •(•  He  declared 
they  were  stimulated  to  slay,  murder,  and  kill  their  pursuers,  who  were 
endeavoring  to  persuade  them  back  to  their  duty  and  to  the  service 
of  their  masters  :  He  declared  they  were  urged  to  this  by  speeches  in 
the  Senate  and  in  the  House  of  Representatives  :  He  asserted  that 
the  proclamation  aimed  to  put  down  all  who  sought  to  put  down  the 
law. 

It  was  a  matter  of  astonishment  to  the  reformers  of,  that  day,  that 
Mr.  Clay  and  other  statesmen  ignored  those  familiar  principles  which 
publicists  and  philosophers  had  constantly  asserted  for  the  last  century, 
that  "enactments  against  the  natural  rights  of  man  to  life  and  liberty 
are  void,  do  not  possess  the  elements  of  law,  and  in  no  proper  use  of  lan 
guage  can  be  called  laws  :"  Yet  that  distinguished  statesman  spoke  of 
the  fugitive  act  as  laiv,  although  its  entire  object  was  to  deprive  the  flee 
ing  bondsmen  of  liberty,  and  therefore  not  only  void,  but  barbarous,  des 
potic,  and  criminal. 

Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  though  a  most  unmitigated  advocate  of 
slavery,  took  a  more  rational  view  of  the  subject,  declaring  it  were  in 
vain  to  attempt  the  execution  of  the  fugitive  act  where  the  people  were 
as  much  opposed  to  it  as  they  were  in  Boston . 

Mr.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  referred  to  the  construction  of  the  Constitution, 
given  by  those  who  framed  it,  denying  all  power  in  Congress  to  legislate 
upon  the  subject  of  fugitive  slaves,  and- insisting  that  that  power  was  ex 
pressly  reserved  to  the  several  States  :  That  in  accordance  with  that 
construction  several  of  the  States  passed  laws  to  carry  out  the  compact. 

*  The  committee,  finding  the  suhject  had  become  a  matter  of  ridicule  among  the  people,  suffered 
the  message  to  rest  in  silence,  and  made  no  report  on  the  subject. 

t  Mr.  Clay  evidently  did  not  believe  that  the  first  dictate  of  nature's  law  and  of  nature's  God, 
"  self  defence,"  belonged  to  the  negro.  He  probably  alluded  to  a  case  in  Ohio,  where  the  fugitive 
slew  iiis  master  and  then  made  his  escape. 


346  THE   EXISTENCE  OF  A  HIGHER   LAW  DENIED. 

That  the  present  difficulties  were  the  legitimate  sequence  of  the  despotic 
law. 

Messrs.  Butler  and  Rhett,  of  South  Carolina,  admitted  the  construc 
tion  contended  for  by  Mr.  Chase  to  have  been  the  views  of  those  who 
framed  the  Constitution. 

Mr.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  denied  that  there  was  any  law  higher  than 
the  Constitution  ;  said  there  never  would  be  four  members  of  the  Senate 
who  would  assert  the  existence  of  a  "  higher  law  :"  But  did  not  explain 
the  law  or  the  motive  power  by  which  the  planets  performed  their  revo 
lutions  around  the  sun  ;  nor  the  law  of  gravitation,  of  electricity,  of  ve 
getation,  or  the  laws  of  life,  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  or  that  by 
which  all  men  in  all  ages  are  inspired  with  a  love  of  life  and  of  liberty  : 
nor  did  he  pretfend  that  human  life  and  human  affections  existed  by  vir 
tue  of  the  Federal  Constitution  or  Federal  laws. 

Mr.  Cass,  of  Michigan,  read  from  a  newspaper  a  resolution  adopted 
at  a  meeting  in  Weymouth,  Massachusetts,  declaring  it  a  duty  which 
slaves  owe  to  themselves,  to  posterity,  and  to  God,  to  escape  whenever 
an  opportunity  should  be  presented  ;  and  the  aged  Senator  declared  that 
a  more  atrocious  sentiment  never  disgraced  any  public  meeting. 

The  absence  of  all  regard  for  moral  principle,  of  that  manly  indepen 
dence  which  usually  characterizes  the  statesman  ;  of  that  self-respect 
which  constrains  the  acknowledgment  of  the  right  of  others  to  speak 
and  think  according  to  their  own  judgment,  distinguished  the  debate  to 
which- we  have  called  attention. 

The  hostility  manifested  towards  those  who  maintained  the  right 
of  all  men  to  life  and  liberty,  was  general  among  both  political  par 
ties.  It  constituted  one  of  the  principal  modes  of  conciliating  southern 
favor. 

While  Congress  was  in  session,  a  woman,  the  mother  of  six  children, 
all  of  whom  were  born  in  Pennsylvania,  where  she  was  lawfully  married 
and  had  lived  twenty-two  years,  together  with  her  husband,  were  seized, 
brought  before  Commissioner  Ingraham,  of  Philadelphia,  and  returned 
to  bondage  in  Maryland. 

Four  colored  persons,  who  had  been  liberated  by  their  former  master 
in  Western  Virginia,  were  residing  in  Portsmouth,  Ohio,  when  they  were 
kidnapped,  carried  across  the  river,  sold  South,  and  probably  died  in 
bondage. 

From  official  reports  it  was  estimated  that  thirty  thousand  fugitive 
slaves,  resident  in  the  free  States,  were  now  frightened  from  their  homes 
and  from  the  comforts  of  life,  and  subjected  to  hardships,  privation,  and 
suffering.  Some  fled  to  Canada,  others  left  their  all  and  went  to  distant 


FUGITIVE   ACT  DENOUNCED.  347 

parts  of  the  free  States,  unwilling  to  forsake  the  government  which  per 
secuted  them. 

But  the  barbarism  of  slavery  knows  no  bounds.  Claims  were  sent 
from  slave  States  by  men  who  never  owned  a  slave,  describing  some 
colored  person  who  resided  at  a  particular  point.  The  slave-catcher 
would  take  with  him  men  who,  for  the  purpose  of  sharing  in  the  spoils, 
would  swear  to  the  identity  of  the  victim,  and  servile  commissioners  were 
ready  to  consign  the  prisoner  to  bondage  on  such  proofs,  receiving 
ten  dollars  fee  under  the  law  if  the  prisoner  were  remanded  as  a  slave, 
while  if  they  found  the  prisoner  to  be  a  free  man,  and  discharged  him, 
they  would  obtain  but  half  that  amount. 

From  all  parts  of  the  free  States  memorials  were  sent  to  Congress, 
characterizing  the  enactment  as  "  revolting  to  the  moral  sense  of  the  civil 
ized  world,"  as  "  barbarous,"  "  a  disgrace  to  the  age,"  &c.,  and  calling 
for  its  repeal.  It  had  been  enacted  under  the  plea  that  "  it  was  neces 
sary  to  save  the  Union,"  but  it  excited  a  feeling  of  hostility  to  the  slave 
power  in  exact  degree  as  it  involved  the  people  of  the  free  States  in  the 
crimes  and  barbarities  of  slavery. 

The  incidents  which  we  are  relating  cannot  fail  to  impress  the  reader 
with  a  consciousness  of  that  infatuation  which  appeared  to  seize  upon 
the  strongest  minds  from  long  and  constant  habits  of  thought,  Mr. 
Clay  had  been  one  of  the  commissioners  who  subscribed  the  treaty  of 
Ghent,  pledging  the  British  and  American  Governments  to  the  entire 
abolition  of  the  "  traffic  in  slaves."  He  had  during  his  whole  life  sus 
tained  the  institution  in  our  own  country,  and  by  his  efforts  Missouri 
had  been  admitted  as  a  slave  State  thirty  years  previously  :  Yet  during 
the  present  session  he  denounced  every  man  who  agitated  the  question 
of  slavery  :  But  now,  as  the  thirty-first  Congress  was  drawing  to  a 
close,  he  presented  to  the  Senate  resolutions  directing  the  Committee  on 
Commerce  (l  to  inquire  as  to  the  propriety  of  further  legislation  to  pre 
vent  the  prostitution  of  the  American  flag  to  the  protection  of  the  Afri 
can  slave  trade."  Thus,  while  denouncing  those  who  exposed  the 
coastwise  slave  trade,  the  inter-State  slave  trade,  the  selling  and  buying 
and  transferring  slaves  from  one  plantation  to  another,  this  distinguished 
statesman  was  himself  anxious  to  put  down  the  same  practices  upon  the 
African  coast.  He  was  apparently  unconscious  that  the  foreign  slave 
trade,  the  coastwise  slave  trade,  the  inter-State  slave  trade,  the  buying 
and  selling  slaves  from  one  plantation  to  another,  the  holding,  punish 
ing,  torturing  and  murdering  of  slaves  constituted  an  inseparable  net 
work  of  crime  and  guilt  which  could  not  be  morally  severed.  The 
subject  occupied  the  attention  of  the  Senate  at  times  during  the 


348  A   POLITICAL   CONSPIRACY. 

remainder  of  the  session,  without  any  definite  action  upon  the  resolu 
tions. 

Nor  did  the  slaveholders  of  that  day  appear  to  regard  their  own  action 
in  behalf  of  slavery  as  liable  to  criticism.  Thus,  while  every  southern 
member  was  in  the  daily  practice  of  denouncing  their  northern  friends 
for  agitating  questions  touching  slavery,  Mr.  Atchison,  from  Missouri, 
presented  the  petition  of  Margaret  Drew,  of  that  State,  praying  com 
pensation  for  a  slave  lost  while  in  the  service  of  a  quartermaster  of  the 
United  States,  at  Leavenworth,  in  the  territory  west  of  Missouri.  He 
declared  himself  opposed  to  any  reference  of  the  petition,  saying  but 
one  question  could  arise,  and  that  was,  whether  the  quartermaster  had 
used  due  diligence  to  prevent  the  slave  from  escaping.  The  Senator  ap 
peared  to  have  no  conception  of  the  uniform  practice  of  the  Government 
in  discarding  all  consequences  arising  from  the  unauthorized  acts  of  its 
agents  ;  nor  did  he  appear  conscious  that  by  going  into  territory  where 
no  law  of  slavery  existed,  the  slave  became,  ipso  facto,  free  ;  nor  to  have 
discovered  that  train  of  decisions  by  Congress,  in  which  that  body  had 
ever  denied  that  slaves  were  property.  The  Senate,  however,  more 
thoughtful  than  the  mover,  referred  the  petition  to  the  Committee  on 
Claims,  where  it  yet  rests  in  silence. 

As  the  thirty-first  Congress  was  about  to  close,  and  members,  on  look 
ing  back,  found  that  every  effort  to  suppress  the  conscientious  convictions 
of  the  people  on  the  subject  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  in  our  Territories,  and  upon  the  high  seas,  and  of  the  fugi 
tive  act,  and  the  act  giving  Texas  ten  million  dollars,  had  proven  not 
only  abortive,  but  had  greatly  intensified  the  feeling  which  previously 
existed,  they  determined  to  make  one  more  effort  to  silence  the  popular 
voice,  which  appeared  to  be  literally  the  voice  of  God  finding  utterance 
through  the  organs  of  humanity.  Entertaining  no  doubt  as  to  their 
power  to  control  the  moral  and  political  sentiment  of  the  country, 
they  entered  into  a  solemn  compact  with  each  other  to  support  no  man 
for  public  office  who  did  not  regard  the  measures  adopted  by  Congress 
at  its  previous  session  as  a  final  settlement  of  the  slave  question :  or  who 
should  agitate  the  repeal  of  any  of  the  measures  alluded  to.* 

*  This  compact  was  in  the  following  words :  "  The  undersigned,  members  of  the  thirty-first  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States,  believing  that  a  renewal  of  sectional  controversy  upon  the  subject  of 
slavery  would  be  both  dangerous  to  the  Union  and  destructive  of  its  objects,  and  seeing  no  moda 
by  which  such  controversy  can  be  avoided,  except  by  a  strict  adherence  to  the  settlement  effected 
by  the  compromise  acts  passed  at  the  last  session  of  Congress — Do  DECLARE  their  intention  to  main 
tain  said  settlement  inviolate,  and  to  resist  all  attempts  to  repeal  or  alter  the  acts  aforesaid,  unless 
by  the  general  consent  of  the  friends  of  those  measures,  and  to  remedy  such  evils,  if  any,  as 
time  and  experience  may  develop. 

"And  for  the  purpose  of  making  this  resolution  effective,  they  further  declare,  that  they  will  not 


HOSTILITY   TO   SLAVERY   INTENSIFIED.  34:9 

These  various  efforts  to  draw  the  line  of  demarkation  between  the  sup 
porters  of  slavery  and  the  advocates  of  liberty,  could  not  fail  greatly  to 
diminish  the  influence  of  the  former  and  increase  the  numbers  of  the  lat 
ter.  But  the  leading  statesmen  of  the  South  and  their  friends'  of  the 
North  felt  that  the  safety  of  the  principal  political  organizations,  and  of 
the  nation,  depended  on  maintaining  and  confirming  every  act  of  Con 
gress  in  favor  of  slavery,  and  holding  it  up  as  a  precedent  to  be  followed 
in  all  subsequent  time.  The  oligarchs  now  held  slavery  to  be  a  perma 
nent,  enduring  institution,  and  that  all  laws  enacted  for  its  support  must 
of  necessity  be  sacredly  preserved  from  modification  and  repeal :  while 
the  Free-soilers  of  that  day  declared  their  policy  to  be  the  repeal  of  all 
Congressional  enactments  in  favor  of  slavery,  leaving  the  institution  en 
tirely  with  the  States  in  which  it  existed:  while  no  State  which  preferred 
freedom  should  be  involved  in  the  support  of  slavery. 


•support  for  President,  or  for  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  or  for  Senator  or  Representative 
in  Congress,  or  member  of  a  State  Legislature,  any  man  of  whatever  party  who  is  not  known  to  be 
opposed  to  the  disturbance  of  the  settlement  aforesaid,  and  to  the  renewal  in  any  form  of  agitation 
upon  the  subject  of  slavery." 

(Signed) — Henry  Clay,  Howell  Cobb,  Charles  S.  Morehead,  Henry  S.  Foote,  Wm.  C.  Dawson, 
Thos.  J.  Rusk,  A.  II.  Stephens,  Jeremiah  Clemens,  Robt.  Toornbs,  Meredith  P.  Gentry,  Thos.  G. 
Pratt,  Wm.  M.  Gwinn,  F.  E.  McLean,  A.  G.  Watkins,  David  Outlaw,  Alexander  Evans,  C.  H.  Wil 
liams,  F.  S.  Haywood,  A.  H.  Shepherd,  David  Breck,  James  L.  Johnson,  D.  A.  Bookee,  J.  B.  Thomp 
son,  L.  M.  Andrews,  W.  P.  Mangum,  John  B.  Kerr,  Jeremiah  Moreton,  J.  P.  Caldwell,  R.  J.  Bowie, 
Edmund  Deberry,  E.  C.  Cabell,  Humphrey  Marshall,  Alex.  F.  Owen,  from  slave  States. 

From  New  York— William  Duer,  Robert  L.  Rose,  J.  Phillips  Phoenix,  George  R.  Andrews,  Jame* 
Brooks,  A.  M.  Schermerhorn. 

From  Pennsylvania— James  Cooper.  From  Massachusetts— Samuel  Elliot.  From  Ohio— John 
G.  Thurman.  From  New  Hampshire — Henry  Hibbard. 


350  ME.    BOYD,    OF   KENTUCKY,    ELECTED   SPEAKER. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

ATTEMPTS  TO  ENFORCE   THE    COMPROMISE   MEASURES — DEATH    OF   MR.    CLAY 

KOSSUTH     VISITS    WASHINGTON POLITICAL    PARTIES     PLEDGE    THEMSELVES 

TO    STOP   ALL   AGITATION. 

1851  THE  thirty-second  Congress  was  composed  of  men  differing  in 

thought  and  opinions  respecting  slavery.  The  whig  and  demo 
cratic  parties  appeared  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  final  disrup 
tion  awaited  them  ;  that  they  could  only  be  held  together  for  a  time  by 
the  most  strenuous  efforts  of  their  members.  Thus,  on  the  day  of  assem 
bling,  when  the  Clerk  had  called  the  members  to  order,  Mr.  Campbell, 
of  Ohio,  proceeded  to  nominate  as  the  whig  candidate  for  Speaker, 
Thaddeus  Stevens,  of  Pennsylvania,  for  whom  the  Free-soilers  would 
have  gladly  voted  at  the  previous  Congress,  and  his  election  would  have 
been  secured  could  the  Whigs  have  been  induced  to  vote  for  him. 

Mr.  Joues,  of  Tennessee,  nominated  Mr.  Boyd,  of  Kentucky,  declar 
ing  that  he  did  not  make  the  nomination  merely  because  that  gentle 
man  had  been  nominated  by  a  democratic  caucus,  but  because  he  was  a 
Union  man. 

Mr.  Brooks,  of  New  York,  said  the  Whigs  had  that  morning  held  a 
caucus,  and  resolved  to  maintain  the  compromise  measures  as  a  finality. 
And  a  long  debate  now  arose  between  the  whig  and  democratic  parties 
as  to  which  was  the  most  zealous  supporters  of  the  Union,  which 
was  understood  to  mean  the  most  zealous  supporters  of  slavery  ; 
southern  Democrats  endeavoring  to  show  that  northern  Whigs  were 
opposed  to  slavery,  and  southern  Whigs  endeavoring  to  show  that 
northern  Democrats  were  unfaithful  to  that  institution.  This  debate 
was  irregular,  as  the  House  was  unorganized  ;  and  Mr.  Giddings, 
being  a  Free-soiler,  took  occasion  to  remind  gentlemen  that  they 
would  have  ample  time  to  show  each  other's  crimes  after  a  Speaker 
should  be  elected  ;  and  said  he  was  greatly  surprised  to  see  gentlemen 
pledged  to  silence  all  agitation,  engage  in  debating  the  slave  question 
before  a  vote  for  Speaker  was  allowed  to  be  taken.  He  hoped  the 
country  would  notice  that  the  House  had  been  precipitated  into  this 
debate  by  Whigs  and  Democrats,  and  not  by  the  friends  of  liberty. 

.  The  House  then  proceeded  to  ballot  for  Speaker,  and  Mr.  Boyd,  of 
Kentucky,  was  elected  on  the  first  ballot. 


"'MISSISSIPPI   PREPARES   FOR   SECESSION.  351 

On  the  following  morning,  Mr.  Foote,  of  Mississippi,  presented  to  the 
Senate  a  resolution  declaring  that  the  fugitive  slave  act,  the  act  establish 
ing  territorial  governments  in  Utah  and  New  Mexico,  and  the  act  admit 
ting  California  to  the  Union,  were  in  the  judgment  of  the  Senate,  to  be 
regarded  as  a  definitive  adjustment  of  the  distracting  questions  growing 
out  of,  and  touching  domestic  slavery. 

When  the  resolution  came  up  for  debate,  Mr.  Foote  made  a  long 
speech  to  show  that  the  several  acts  referred  to  ought  to  be  regarded 
as  a  final  settlement  of  the  slave  question,  and  that  all  discussion  of  the 
subject  should  be  suppressed.  This  discussion  of  the  propriety  of  dis 
cussion  attracted  much  attention.  Those  who  witnessed  it  were  amused 
at  its  ludicrous  character.  Southern  statesmen  for  years  had  introduced 
subjects  relating  to  slavery,  but  when  northern  members  resisted  such 
measures  they  were  at  once  charged  with  "  agitating  the  slave  question." 

Mr.  Foote  declared  that  the  people  of  his  State,  in  solemn  convention, 
had  approved  those  acts  of  Congress,  and  pledged  the  State  to  stand 
by  them  ;  and  he  then  read  -a  resolution  adopted  by  said  convention 
declaring  that  the  asserted  "  right  of  a  State  to  secede  from  the  Federal 
Union  was  utterly  unsanctioned  ~by  the  Constitution."  He  then  read  fur 
ther  resolutions  declaring, 

1st.  That  any  interference  by  Congress  with  slavery  in  the  States,  or 

2d.  With  the  slave  trade  between  the  States,  or 

3d.  With  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in  other  places 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  Congress,  or 

4th.  The  refusal  by  Congress  to  admit  new  slave  States  to  the  Union,  or 

5th.  The  repeal  of  the  fugitive  slave  act,  or 

6th.  The  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  Territories,  would  furnish  suffi 
cient  cause  for  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  slave  States.*  Mr.  Foote 
also  appealed  very  solemnly  to  the  democratic  party  to  stand  by  Missis 
sippi  and  the  slave 'States  in  maintaining  the  compromise  measures  of 
the  previous  Congress.  Messrs.  -Butler  and  Rhett,  of  South  Carolina, 
and  Mr.  Mason,  of  Yirgmia,  joined  in  debating  the  propriety  of  delate. 

These  Senators  had  long  before  that  time  assured  the  public,  that  all 
agitation  would  cease  soon,  as  the  measures  alluded  to  should  pass  Con 
gress  ;  and  now  those  political  prophets  were  active  and  loud  in  their 
arguments  endeavoring  to  convince  the  world  that  they  had  correctly 
foretold  the  precise  effects  of  their  own  measures.  This  unenviable 
position  of  the  slave  power  and  its  democratic  friends  could  not  fail  to 


*  This  movement  in  Mississippi  was  intended  as  the  first  step  on  the  part  of  that  State  towards 
secession,  which  was,  ten  years  subsequently,  carried  into  effect. 


352  EXPEDITION   AGAINST   CUBA. 

provoke  facetious  remarks.     Mr.  Hale,   of  New  Hampshire,  held  up 
the  mirror  before  them,  exhibiting  their  inconsistency. 

This  expose  called  out  reply,  and  the  resolutions  continued  to  be  dis 
cussed  at  intervals  for  more  than  two  months,  when  members  appeared  to 
realize  the  singular  position  which  they  occupied,  in  debating  measures 
that  had  been  disposed  of  during  the  previous  year,  and  the  resolutions 
were  suddenly  laid  aside  and  no  more  called  up. 

1852]  Amidst  all  the  difficulties  which  now  surrounded  the  slave 
power,  a  policy  was  adopted  by  the  friends  of  the  institution  for 
obtaining  Cuba,  in  order  that  it  might  be  divided  into  slave  States,  and 
being  annexed  to  our  Government,  would  give  the  slave  interest  a  con 
trolling  influence. 

The  projectors  of  this  unauthorized  expedition  against  Cuba  have  not 
been  exposed.  That  it  was  being  fitted  out  was  known  to  the  British, 
French,  and  Spanish  governments,  long  before  it  sailed  from  the 
United  States.  The  Spanish  Government  was  well  aware  of  it  and 
gave  notice  to  ours  of  the  intended  raid  upon  Cuba.  The  Presi 
dent  issued  his  proclamation,  calling  upon  all  well-disposed  citizens  to 
enforce  the  laws  against  all  such  unlawful  expeditions  ;  but  no  general 
orders  from  the  Secretary  of  War  or  of  the  Navy  were  sent  as  was  done 
in  the  case  of  the  fugitive  Shadrach. 

But  no  law  of  the  United  States  against  the  interests  of  slavery  could 
be  enforced  at  that  day  within  the  slave  States.  The  expedition  was 
commanded  by  a  Spaniard  named  Lopez,  and  the  whole  number  of 
troops  embarked  did  not  exceed  four  or  five  hundred.  They  landed 
near  Cardenas,  and  after  some  little  tune  were  all  captured,  and  Lopez 
and  some  fifty  others  were  tried,  condemned,  and  executed.  The  others 
were  sent  to  Spain,  and  eventually,  on  application  of  our  Government, 
were  given  up  and  brought  to  the  United  States  at  the  public  expense. 
The  appropriation  of  money  for  this  purpose  by  Congress,  gave  rise 
to  discussion  which  may  be  said  to  have  been  unpleasant  to  southern 
members. 

Mr.  Clay  had  now  become  well  stricken  in  years,  and  those  who 
conversed  with  him  at  the  commencement  of  the  session  were  impressed 
that  his  earthly  labors  were  drawing  to  a  close.  He  had  long  served 
his  country  in  official  life,  and  had  mingled  in  all  the  debates  of  the 
Senate  on  the  subject  of  slavery  while  a  member  of  that  body.  He 
had  also  been  active  in  that  respect  while  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  He  was  a  man  of  dignified  deportment,  bland  and 
genial  in  his  manner,  amiable  in  his  temper.  Possessing  great  expe 
rience,  he  of  course  wielded  great  influence  in  the  Government.  That 


DEATH   OF  ME.    CLAY.  353 

influence  had  been  far  greater  in  the  North  than  that  of  Mr.  Calhoun, 
and  was  probably  more  efficient  in  favor  of  slavery  than  that  wielded 
by  any  other  man  ;  but  his  eventful  life  drew  to  a  close.  He  died  at 
the  National  Hotel,  in  the  city  of  Washington,  on  the  27th  day  of 
January,  1852.* 

But  while  Calhoun  and  Clay  were  departing  to  their  reward,  Chase 
and  Seward  entered  upon  senatprial  duties,  and  uniting  with  Hale 
and  Sunnier,  boldly  proclaimed  that  freedom  and  the  free  States  were 
entitled  to  a  hearing  before  the  Senate  and  before  the  world. 

That  law  of  the  human  intellect  which  prompts  us  to  love  liberty, 
constrains  us  to  approve  and  admire  its  defenders.  Louis  Kossuth, 
the  distinguished  Hungarian,  after  maintaining  to  the  utmost  of  his 
power,  the  rights  of  his  people  against  Austrian  despotism,  fled  and 
took  refuge  under  the  Turkish  Government;  and  was  invited  by  the  Pre 
sident  of  the  United  States,  to  visit  our  American  land. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  present  session,  Mr.  Foote,  of  Mississippi, 
offered  in  the  Senate,  a  joint  resolution  to  appoint  a  committee  of 
the  two  Houses  to  make  arrangements  for  a  suitable  reception  of 
the  exiled  Governor.  Other  slaveholding  Senators  appeared  emulous 
of  doing  honor  to  this  noble  defender  of  human  liberty,  apparently 
unconscious  that  in  honoring  him  they  were  stimulating  American 
advocates  of  liberty  to  follow  his  example,  in  the  support  of  those 
rights  which  pertain  to  the  human  race  in  all  countries  and  in  all 
times.  But  when  Mr.  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts,  paid  a  glowing 
tribute  to  the  patriotism,  philanthrophy,  and  justice  of  the  noble  stranger, 
slaveholders  began  to  falter.  They  had,  however,  gone  too  far  to  re 
cede,  and  the  resolution  passed  tke  Senate,  and  was  sent  to  the  House 
of  Representatives. 

It  was  obvious  to  reflecting  men,  that  to  encourage  liberty  in  Hungary 
was  in  effect  to  approve  its  advocates  in  the  United  States.  All  felt 
that  Austrian  despotism  was  mild  when  compared  with  that  of  our 
southern  States.  Yet  the  measure  had  become  popular,  and  although  a 
few  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  opposed  the  adoption  of 

*  After  Mr.  Clay  was  confined  to  his  room  the  author  visited  him.  He  was  sitting  in  an  easy- 
chair,  able  to  converse  in  a  low  tone  of  voice ;  but  was  evidently  passing  away  under  the  slow 
progress  of  consumption.  He  alluded  at  once  to  the  former  friendship  that  had  existed  between 
them,  the  kindness  and  fidelity  with  which  the  author  had  supported  him  when  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  and  to  the  coldness  which  had  grown  up  in  consequence  of  slavery.  Said  he  had  no 
doubt  that  his  own  feelings  had  been  too  strong.  The  writer  responded  in  the  same  language,  and 
assured  him  that  he  could  retain  no  feelings  other  than  of  kindness  under  the  circumstances 
in  which  they  then  found  themselves.  Mr.  Clay  said  he  had  no  unkind  feelings  towards  any  one. 
After  full  explanations  and  mutual  assurances  of  kindness,  the  conversation  turned  upon  the 
future,  on  which  his  thoughts  appeared  to  dwell. 

23 


854:  NO    ONE    WILLING   TO   DISCUSS    SECESSION. 

the  resolution,  it  passed  that  body.  Kossuth  was  publicly  received 
with  imposing  ceremony,  adding  influence  and  strength  to  the  advo 
cates  of  freedom  :  While  the  supporters  of  slavery  soon  viewed  the 
whole  proceeding  with  sadness,  apparently  fearing  that  the  rising  spirit 
of  liberty  would  at  no  distant  day  wipe  out  the  stain  of  oppression 
from  our  American  land.* 

The  doctrine  of  secession  had  been  but  little  discussed  at  the 

IQQBLJ 

time  of  which  we  are  writing.  Mr.  Calhoun  had  avowed  it  in  the 
Senate.  Messrs.  Pickens,  Rhett,  and  some  others,  had  spoken  favorably 
of  it  in  the  House  of  Representatives  ;  but  those  men  had  disappeared 
from  the  halls  of  legislation,  and  no  man  was  found  in  either  House  pos 
sessing  sufficient  moral  courage  to  publicly  avow  it  :  Yet  it  was  dis 
cussed  in  southern  papers,  and  Mr.  Gorman,  a  Democrat,  of  Indiana, 
took  occasion  to  denounce  the  doctrine  as  monstrous  in  principle,  and 
destructive  in  practice.  Although  some  members  were  supposed  to  enter 
tain  secession  views  ;  yet  no  one  appeared  willing  to  reply  to  these 
denunciations. 

There  were  few  subjects  of  general  interest  involving  slavery  discussed 
,.at  the  first  session  of  the  thirty-second  Congress  ;  but  the  Legislature  of 
Iowa  being  democratic,  and  desirous  of  expressing  the  allegiance  of  her 
people  to  slavery,  adopted  resolutions  laudatory  of  the  fugitive  act. 
Senator  Jones,  on  presenting  them  to  the  Senate,  referred  to  the  act  as 
wise,  just,  and  in  all  respects  proper.  This  provoked  renewed  discussion 
of  the  subject. 

Senator  Miller,  of  New  Jersey,  also  presented  similar  resolutions  from 
the  Legislature  of  his  State,  and  spoke  in  favor  of  the  wisdom  which 
prompted  the  enactment  of  this  statute  ;  and  it  is  somewhat  remarkable 
that  every  subject  involving  the  character  of  slavery  which  came  before 
Congress  during  this  session  was  introduced  by  the  friends  of  that  insti 
tution. 

Mr.  Jackson,  of  Georgia,  presented  to  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  resolutions  declaring  the  compromise  measures  of  the  thirty-first 

*  During  this  debate  Hon.  James  Brooks,  of  New  York,  said  he  would  vote  for  the  resolution, 
although  it  was  ill  advised.  He  charged  the  author  with  encouraging  its  passage  because  it  was 
popular  ;  and  the  public  reception  of  Kossuth  would  give  an  impetus  to  the  anti-slavery  cause. 

The  author  replied  that  he  had  never  constituted  the  member  from  New  York  the  exponent  of  his 
views  ;  that  it  was  true  he  greatly  respected  that  public  sentiment  which  would  at  no  distant  day 
consign  the  gentleman  from  New  York  and  all  supporters  of  slavery  to  the  "  charnel-house  of 
political  for  get  fulness." 

The  prophecy  appeared  to  have  proven  true.  For  some  ten  years  Mr.  Brooks  adhered  to  the 
whig  party  while  it  existed,  then  joined  the  "  Know-Nothings,"  but  remained  in  private  life  until 
the  voluntary  disbandment  of  the  Republican  organization  of  New  York,  in  1861.  Mr.  Brooks 
then  joining  with  the  Democrats,  was  elected  to  Congress. 


355 


Congress,  including  the  fugitive  slave  act,  to  be  just,  constitutional,  and 
obligatory  upon  all  the  States  and  upon  the  citizens  of  each  State. 

It  again  became  evident  that  the  friends  of  those  measures  were  ill  at 
ease  as  to  the  influence  they  were  exerting  upon  the  northern  conscience  ; 
they  were  therefore  anxious  to  re-argue  their  propriety,  hoping  to  reason 
the  northern  mind  into  the  justice  of  seizing  innocent  men  and  women 
while  fleeing  from  oppression,  and  sending  them  back  to  bondage. 

Both  whig  and  democratic  parties  appeared  anxious  to  avow  their 
allegiance  to  the  fugitive  act  and  the  Texas  bill  ;  but  the  friends  of 
freedom,  assured  from  history,  from  experience,  and  observation,  that 
the  course  pursued  by  those  parties  would  lead  to  their  own  destruction, 
were  content  to  sit  in  silence  with  folded  arms,  and  witness  this  process 
of  political  suicide. 

The  feeling  now  so  prevalent  among  the  pro-slavery  parties  was  ,1852 
regarded  as  favorable  to  the  re-presentation  of  the  important  claim 
of  J.  C.  Watson,  for  the  loss  of  slaves  whom  he  had  purchased  of  cer 
tain  chiefs  of  the  Creek  tribe  of  Indians,  in  1837.  As  stated  in  a 
former  chapter,  in  1836  General  Jessup  employed  two  battalions  of 
Creek  Indians  to  aid  our  troops  in  the  Florida  war,  agreeing  to  give 
them  ten  thousand  dollars  and  all  the  plunder  they  might  capture.  In 
doing  this,  General  Jessup  acted  without  law  and  without  authority,  as 
all  soldiers  were  enlisted  under  well-defined  regulations,  receiving  certain 
wages. 

In  the  course  of  the  campaign  they  captured  about  one  hundred 
colored  persons,  mostly  women  and  children.  The  Indians  had  no  pro 
visions  for  feeding  them,  and  by  order  of  the  commanding  officer, 
(General  Jessup),  they  were  turned  over  to  the  United  States,  and 
eight  thousand  dollars  paid  the  Indians  for  them.  This,  too,  was  un 
authorized  ;  but  the  negroes  were  sent  west  and  Watson  called  on  Con 
gress  to  pay  him  for  the  loss  of  those  free  persons  to  whom  he  had  no 
legal  claim  whatever,  even  under  slavehoiding  laws. 

The  absurdity  of  paying  this  slavedealer  for  the  loss  of  human  chat 
tels,  in  which  the  people  of  the  United  States  could  have  no  pecuniary 
interest,  was  quite  obvious  ;  but  such  was  the  obsequiousness  of  northern 
members  that  the  bill  giving  Watson  more  than  twenty  thousand  dollars 
passed  both  Houses  of  Congress,  and  the  money  was  duly  paid.  Every 
member  from  the  slave  States  voted  in  favor  of  the  bill,  and  were  assisted 
by  Messrs.  Appleton  and  Porter,  of  Maine  ;  Scudder,  of  Massachu 
setts  ;  Hibbard,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Ingersoll,  of  Connecticut ;  Brooks, 
Dean,  Martin,  Schermerhorn,  Sutherland,  and  Walsh,  of  New  York  ; 
Price,  of  New  Jersey  ;  Chandler,  Florence,  Kuhns,  McNair,  Robbins, 


356  ESSENTIAL   PRINCIPLES   REPUDIATED. 

and  Ross,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Taylor,  of  Ohio  ;  Penniman  and  Stuart,  of 
Michigan  ;  Parker,  of  Indiana  ;  Clark  and  Henn,  of  Iowa,  and  McCorcle, 
of  California.  The  bill  was  discussed,  amd  questions  of  slavery  were 
fully  debated  ;  but  southern  members,  abandoning  the  doctrine  that 
slaves  were  property,  urged  payment  of  the  claim  upon  the  principle 
that  the  action  of  the  commanding  officer  in  time  of  war  was  binding 
upon  the  Government,  even  when  professing  to  sell  free  men  into  slavery. 
The  vote  stood,  T5  for  the  bill,  53  against  it  •  and,  after  fifteen  years  of 
effort,  Watson  obtained  indemnity  for  his  loss  of  human  chattels  from 
the  pockets  of  the  people. 

The  policy  of  the  whig  and  democratic  parties  was  well  illustrated  in 
their  national  conventions  for  nominating  candidates  for  President  and 
Vice-President.  The  democratic  organization  assembled  at  Baltimore 
in  the  month  of  May,  and  nominated  Mr.  Pierce,  of  New  Hampshire, 
as  their  candidate,  but  asserted  no  primal  truth,  no  moral  principle,  no 
political  doctrine,  as  the  basis  of  their  organization  ;  on  the  contrary, 
they  studiously  avoided  such  avowal,  but  pledged  themselves  to  resist  all 
attempts  in  Congress  to  renew  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question 
under  whatever  shape  or  color  the  attempt  might  be  made. 

The  Whigs  held  their  convention  in  the  same  city  in  the  week  following, 
and  nominated  General  Scott  as  their  candidate.  They  also  adopted 
a  series  of  resolutions  avoiding  the  assertion  of  any  moral  principle  or 
essential  doctrine  ;  but  declaring  that  they  would  deprecate  all  agita 
tion  of  the  slave  question,  and  pledging  themselves  to  discountenance  all 
efforts  to  continue  or  renew  such  agitation  whenever,  however,  and  wher 
ever  made. 

These  two  great  parties,  now  standing  before  the  country  as  oppo 
nents,  long  contending  with  each  other,  and  each  demanding  support  of 
the  people,  presented  to  the  world  a  political  phenomenon  morally  inex 
plicable.  They  fully  agreed  with  each  other  on  the  subject  of  slavery, 
nor  did  they  disagree  on  any  other  subject.  Each  of  these  parties  had 
in  past  time  risen  to  power,  not  because  of  any  principle  which  it  advocated, 
but  on  account  of  the  incompetence  and  corruption  of  the  opposing  organ 
ization,  and  by  aid  of  the  malcontents  among  the  party  in  power.  And 
now  they  united  in  discarding  from  their  ranks  all  who  advocated  the 
undying  truths  and  immutable  principles  of  human  freedom.  Each  party 
sought  to  obtain  the  vote  of  the  slave  States.  To  do  that,  they  were 
compelled  to  discard  the  very  doctrines  on  which  the  Republic  was 
founded.  They  pledged  allegiance  to  a  despotism  a  thousand  times  more 
barbarous  than  that  for  the  overthrow  of  which  their  fathers  contended, 
bled,  and  died.  Men  who  were  able  to  cast  aside  the  prejudice  of 


A   POLITICAL  ISSUE  FOKMED.  357 

party  clearly  understood,  that  the  spirit  of  our  Government  and  institu 
tions  had  already  departed  :  That  we  merely  retained  the  form  of  a 
republic  ;  and  their  hope  rested  on  the  confident  belief  that  the  people 
could  be  awakened  to  the  support  of  the  doctrines  on  which  it  had 
originally  been  founded. 

iDhe  Free-soilers,  who  had  assumed  that  cognomen  at  Buffalo  in  1848, 
now  assembled  at  Pittsburg.  It  was  an  imposing  convocation  of  men  of 
moral  and  political  character.  Hon.  Charles  F.  Adams,  and  Senator 
Wilson,  and  many  other  good  men  and  true  from  the  old  Bay  State, 
together  with  others  of  like  character  from  each  of  the  free  States, 
assembled  under  a  deep  and  solemn  sense  of  the  responsibility  which 
rested  on  them,  knowing  the  determined  hostility  of  both  the  old  parties 
which  they  were  to  encounter.  They  put  forth  probably  the  most  per 
fect  platform  of  political  faith  which  had  then  been  enunciated  since  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  They  pledged  themselves  fully  to  the 
support  of  liberty  wherever  the  constitutional  jurisdiction  of  the  Federal 
Government  was  exclusive,  leaving  the  slave  States  to  support  or  abolish 
slavery  at  the  pleasure  of  their  people.  They  nominated  Hon.  John  P. 
Hale  as  their  candidate  for  President,  and  Hon.  George  W.  Julian  for 
Vice-President,  and  entered  upon  the  contest  with  a  high  moral  prestige. 
Intending  to  succeed  eventually  by  the  force  of  truth  and  justice,  they 
entertained  no  expectation  of  electing  their  candidates  in  that  particular 
contest.  They  assumed  the  name  of  Free,  Democrats,  and  entered  upon 
the  work  before  them  with  a  spirit  and  energy  worthy  of  commendation. 


358  THE   WHIG   PAETY   DISBANDED. 


CHAPTER  XXIY. 

RESULT  OF  THE  PKESIDENTIAL  ELECTION DEATH  OF  MR.  WEBSTER CLAIM    OF 

WILLIAM    HAZZARD  WIGG. 

1852]  DURING  the  vacation  of  the  thirty-second  Congress  the  Presi 
dential  election  was  determined  as  most  reflecting  men  had 
foreseen.  The  course  pursued  by  the  whig  party  on  the  election  of 
Speaker  at  the  commencement  of  the  thirty-first  Congress  had  impressed 
leading  politicians  with  the  conviction  that  it  had  surrendered  its  own 
existence  at  the  dictation  of  the  slave  power.  They  had  succeeded  in 
electing  their  President  in  1848,  without  the  enunciation  of  any  essential 
principle  ;  but  soon  as  they  came  into  power  and  the  offices  had  been 
distributed,  there  was  no  longer  any  rallying  point  or  principle 
to  which  the  President,  or  any  member  of  the  Cabinet,  or  party, 
was  in  honor  bound  ;  and  the  people  soon  discovered  that  they 
had  gained  nothing  by  the  change  of  administrations.  The  subsequent 
refusal  to  take  a  candidate  for  Speaker  who  was  in  favor  of  the  consti 
tutional  right  *of  petition  seemed  to  have  forbidden  all  hope  of  their 
further  success  ;  but  relying  upon  the  military  fame  of  their  candidate, 
they  entered  upon  the  contest  with  some  show  of  force.  When  the 
votes  were  counted,  however,  the  whig  candidate  was  found  in  such  a 
meagre  minority  that  the  party  voluntarily  disbanded  and  henceforth 
ceased  to  exist. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Webster  in  the  autumn  of  1852,  while  holding,  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State,  constituted  an  incident  interesting  and  im 
portant.  He  had  disappointed  the  advocates  of  liberty  by  his  speech  in 
the  Senate,  and  by  his  subsequent  exertions  to  placate  the  slave  power 
and  win  their  influence  to  his  support.  Finding  the  people  of  the 
free  States  hostile  to  the  fugitive  act,  on  which  he  had  been  willing 
to  stake  his  prospects,  he  then  threw  himself  entirely  upon  the  slave 
power  for  support.  His  anxiety  under  these  circumstances  became 
oppressive,  and  was  noticed  by  those  who  were  familiar  with  him. 

But  at  the  nominating  convention  no  vote  was  cast  for  him.  The 
slave  power  had  obtained  from  him  all  the  assistance  which  its  advocates 
expected .  His  election  would  not  increase  the  safety  or  prosperity  of 
the  institution.  And  members  of  Congress  who  met  him  on  the  morning 
after  the  nomination,  were  struck  with  the  eadness  which  marked  every 


359 

lineament  of  his  countenance.  It  was  evident  that  ambition  no  longer 
stimulated  him  to  action.  The  blow  was  fatal.  That  mighty  intellect  which 
had  commanded  the  admiration  of  Europeans  as  well  as  Americans,  was 
evidently  falling  a  sacrifice  to  disappointed  ambition.  He  lived  scarcely 
six  months  from  the  time  of  his  disappointment,  and  evidently  died  of  a 
broken  heart.  He  may  be  said  literally  to  have  fallen  with  the  party 
which  he  had  so  long  supported. 

At  the  reassembling  of  Congress  those  members  who  had  belonged 
to  the  whig  party  were  in  an  anomalous  position.  They  had  de 
nounced  both  Democrats  and  Free-soilers,  and  now  felt  that  pride  of 
opinion  which  would  not  permit  them  to  act  with  either. 

The  Free  Democracy,  however,  satisfied  with  their  prospects,  ,-1858 
were  willing  to  permit  others  to  introduce  subjects  of  debate. 
A  bill  was  brought  before  the  House  of  Representatives,  for  appro 
priating  money  to  bring  from  Spain  the  unfortunate  members  of  the 
Cuban  expedition  under  Lopez,  mentioned  in  the  previous  chapter.  As 
that  expedition  had  been  fitted  out  for  the  purpose  of  extending  and 
strengthening  the  slave  power,  it  excited  debate,  during  which  leading 
southern  members  declared  their  intention  to  obtain  Cuba  for  that 
purpose. 

During  this  session  the  author  served  as  a  member  of  the  Commit 
tee  on  Territories,  who  reported  a  bill  to  organize  a  government  in 
Nebraska.  When  this  bill  came  up  for  debate  in  Committee  of  the 
whole  House,  Hon.  John  W .  Howe,  of  Pennsylvania,  publicly  called  on 
the  author  to  inquire  why  there  was  no  prohibition  of  slavery  in  it  ? 
Mr.  Giddings  replied  that,  by  the  eighth  section  of  the  act  admitting 
Missouri,  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude  had  been  distinctly  prohibited 
iu  all  the  territory  ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States,  in  what  was 
called  the  "  Louisiana  purchase,"  north  of  36  deg.  30  min.  north  latitude  : 
That  being  excluded,  no  additional  legislation  was  necessary  on  the  sub 
ject,  and  he,  Mr.  Giddings,  had  voted  for  the  bill  as  it  then  stood. 
Mr.  Howe  declared  himself  satisfied.  This  incident  showed  that  the  lovers 
of  liberty  were  willing  that  the  subject  of  slavery  in  that  territory 
should  rest,  without  further  disturbance.  The  bill  passed  the  House 
without  debate,  and  was  transmitted  to  the  Senate.  That  body  were 
unwilling  to  permit  Kansas  to  be  organized  as  a  free  territory,  and 
retained  the  bill  without  any  action  upon  it. 

Late  on  the  last  night  of  the  session  a  motion  was  made  to  suspend 
the  rules  of  the  House,  in  order  to  take  up  and  consider  a  bill  from  the 
Senate  for  the  relief  of  "  William  Hazzard  Wigg,"  who  was  said  to 
have  lost  about  a  hundred  slaves  during  the  revolutionary  war.  He  was 


360  EXTKAOKDINARY   CLAIM. 

a  resident  of  South  Carolina,  and  the  slaves  were  said  to  have  been 
carried  away  by  the  British.  The  reader  will  recollect  the  efforts  put 
forth  by  President  Washington,  to  obtain  compensation  for  the  thousands 
of  slaves  carried  away  during  that  war,  and  the  final  surrender  of  all 
these  claims,  as  related  in  a  former  chapter. 

Thousands  of  northern  citizens  had  been  ruined  during  that  war,  their 
property  taken  by  the  enemy,  their  dwellings  burned,  their  families 
left  destitute,  but  Congress  had  ever  refused  compensation.  But  here 
was  a  case  where  men  and  women  were  assisted  to  gain  their  liberty, 
and  the  grasp  of  the  oppressor  had  been  loosened  by  British  power,  and 
the  people  of  the  free  States  were  to  contribute  their  substance  to  com 
pensate  the  descendants  of  Wigg  for  the  loss  of  slaves  who  had  regained 
their  liberty  more  than  seventy  years  previously.  The  bill  had  passed 
the  Senate  without  objection,  although,  on  a  motion  to  amend,  Messrs. 
Brodhead,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Clark  and  James,  of  Rhode  Island  ;  Dodge, 
of  Wisconsin  ;  Miller,  of  New  Jersey  ;  Weller,  of  California,  and  Wade, 
of  Ohio,  voted  for  perfecting  the  bill ;  but,  as  no  one  opposed  it,  these 
Senators,  with  all  others  present,  must  have  approved  its  passage. 

When  it  reached  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  author,  under 
standing  its  character,  foresaw  that  an  effort  would  be  made  to  take 
it  up  on  the  last  night  of  the  session,  and  in  the  hurry  of  business 
to  pass  it.  To  prevent  this  he  went  among  northern  members,  stating 
the  character  of  the  bill  and  foretelling  the  effort  to  pass  it  on  the  last 
night  of  the  session,  when  it  could  not  be  debated  or  its  character  made 
known  to  the  House. 

As  predicted,  at  11  o'clock  of  the  last  night  of  the  session,  Mr.  Col- 
cock,  a  Democrat  of  South  Carolina,  moved  to  take  up  this  bill. 

Mr.  Skelton,  of  New  Jersey,  a  Democrat :  "I  object.  The  bill 
ought  not  to  be  passed  ;  it  introduces" —  (Cries  of  "  Order,  order  !" 
from  slaveholding  members.) 

Mr.  Duncan,  Whig,  of  Massachusetts  :  "I  object,  and  wish  to  state 
the  reasons  for  my  objection."  (Cries  of  "  Order  !  order  !  ") 

Mr.  Colcock  :  "I  move  to  suspend  the  rules,  in  order  to  take  up 
this  bill." 

Mr.  Walsh,  Democrat,  of  New  York  :  "I  hope  that  bill  will  be 
taken  up  and  passed." 

Mr.  Allison,  of  Pennsylvania,  Whig,  demanded  the  yeas  and  nays  on 
suspending  the  rules  and  laying  aside  all  other  business,  to  take  up  and 
pass  this  bill.  They  were  ordered,  and  all  the  slaveholders  voted  in  the 
affirmative,  together  with  Messrs.  Appleton  and  Porter,  of  Maine  ;  Fay 
and  Gooderich,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Briggs,  Brooks,  Conger,  Dean,  Hart, 


JUSTICE   INSULTED.  361 

Hawcs,  Russel,  Schennerhorn,  Sutherland  and  Walsh,  of  New  York  ; 
Bibighaus,  Chandler,  Curtiss,  Dimmock,  Florence,  Fuller,  Gamble, 
Jones,  Kuhns,  Kurtz,  Moore,  McLanahan,  Morrison,  Parker,  Bobbins 
and  Ross,  of  Pennsylvania ;  Marshall  and  McCockle,  of  California  ; 
Ingersoll,  of  Connecticut ;  Stratton  and  Wildrich,  of  New  Jersey  ; 
Carter,  Disney,  Edgerton,  Olds,  Gaylord,  Greene  and  Taylor,  of  Ohio  ^ 
Dunham,  Fitch,  Gorman,  Lockhart  and  Mace,  of  Indiana  ;  Campbell 
and  Richardson,  of  Illinois  ;  Clark  and  Henri,  of  Iowa.  These  men 
from  the  free  States  assisted  in  suspending  the  rules  of  the  House  and 
all  other  business,  in  order  to  pass  this  bill,  which,  in  every  possible 
aspect,  was  most  insulting  to  our  northern  laborers,  from  whom  the 
money  was  principally  drawn  ;  but  no  debate  was  allowed,  nor  were  the 
opponents  of  the  bill  able  to  obtain  one-fifth  of  the  members  of  the 
House  to  vote  for  the  yeas  and  nays  on  its  passage.  The  effrontery  of 
southern  men,  in  demanding  compensation  for  the  loss  of  these  slaves, 
was  more  than  equalled  by  the  base  servility  of  those  northern  members 
who  sustained  this  fraud  upon  the  public  treasury.  But  these  surrenders 
of  northern  honor  and  northern  interest  were  all  justified  and  vindicated 
by  the  usual  argument  that  "  it  was  necessary  to  save  the  Union  f  while, 
in  fact,  they  really  made  southern  men  believe  their  favor,  their  smiles 
and  approbation  necessary  to  preserve  the  Government ;  and  to  regard 
northern  members  as  incapable  of  the  exercise  of  the  higher  virtues  of 
patriotism  and  justice. 


362  THE   DEMOCRATIC   PARTY  IN  POWEB. 


CHAPTER  XXY. 

CHARACTER   OF  PRESIDENT   PIERCE THE  "  AMISTAD  "    CLAIM REPEAL  OF  THE 

MISSOURI  COMPROMISE THE  INAUGURATION  OF  CIVIL  WAR — ATTEMPT  OF  THE 

EXECUTIVE    TO    EXCITE    A    WAR    WITH     SPAIN BLOODSHED     IN     BOSTON 

RESISTING   THE    FUGITIVE  ACT HUMILIATION    OF    SENATOR    CASS FIDELITY 

OF     HIS     STATE COMPENSATION     FOR    LOSS     OF     SLAVES     ON     BOARD    THE 

"  CREOLE,"  THE    "  ENTERPRISE"  AND  "  HERMORA,"  PAID  BY  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

1853 ,  THE  thirty-third  Congress  convened  under  peculiar  circumstances. 
The  democratic  party  were  in  power.  They  held  the  Executive 
offices  and  a  majority  of  both  Houses  of  Congress,  and  controlled  the 
Legislatures  of  nearly  all  of  the  thirty-one  States  which  then  constituted 
the  Union.  For  many  years  the  members  of  both  whig  and  democratic 
parties  had  charged  the  advocates  of  liberty  with  agitating  the  "  slave 
question."  The  repetition  of  this  assertion  had  become  chronic  with 
those  parties.  Whenever  the  slave  power  introduced  any  subject  of 
legislation  involving  the  interest  of  the  institution,  and  the  adherents 
of  freedom  resisted  it,  the  charge  of  "  agitation "  was  iterated  and 
reiterated  :  and  it  was  never  repeated  and  asserted  with  greater  em 
phasis,  than  when  they  opposed  the  annc  xation  of  Texas,  the  Mexican 
war,  the  establishment  of  slavery  in  California,  the  giving  Texas  ten 
millions  of  dollars,  and  the  passage  of  the  fugitive  act. 

Free-soilers  having  felt  that  these  outrages  upon  the  rights  and  inter 
ests  of  the  free  States  were  arousing  the  indignation  of  all  thinking  men, 
had  during  the  last  Congress  refused  generally  to  enter  into  debate 
touching  the  institution. 

This  quietude  was  unsatisfactory  to  the  slave  power.  Ambitious  men 
were  unable  to  attract  public  attention  on  other  subjects  ;  but  all 
could  manifest  allegiance  to  slavery,  which  was  usually  regarded  as 
the  only  mode  for  obtaining  popularity.  Nor  were  any  members  more 
anxious  for  debating  the  slave  question  than  those  who  at  the  close  of 
the  thirty-first  Congress  had  signed  a  written  pledge,  binding  them 
selves  not  to  support  any  man  for  President  or  Vice-President  who  did 
not  regard  the  compromise  measures  as  a  final  settlement  of  the  slave 
question. 

Mr.  Pierce,  the  Democratic  President,  in  his  first  annual  mes 
sage,  recommended  that  Congress  should  appropriate  money  to  compeu- 


CHARACTER   OF   PRESIDENT  PIERCE.  363 

sate  the  owners  of  the  slaves  who  on  board  the  Spanish  schooner 
"  Amistad  "  had  by  their  own  prowess  won  their  right  to  liberty. 

The  case  was  fully  stated  in  a  former  chapter.  Having  been  first 
recommended  by  President  Polk,  and  reported  upon  by  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Affairs,  the  writer  had  met  it,  and  exposed  it  in  a  short 
speech,  when  the  motion  to  print  the  report  was  abandoned  even  by  the 
mover.  The  claim  was  again  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  House  by 
an  amendment  of  the  Senate  to  the  civil  and  diplomatic  appropriation 
bill,  and  that  amendment  was  promptly  defeated  in  the  House.  But 
the  case  was  important,  as  it  involved  the  right  of  slaves  to  obtain  their 
liberty  by  slaying  their  oppressors.  It  involved  the  life-giving  doctrines 
of  the  Government.  But  the  life  of  liberty,  is  the  death  of  slavery  : 
and  the  position  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  repeated  decisions  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  if  sustained,  must  prove  the  destruction  of 
the  "peculiar  institution."  The  first  step  towards  a  reversal  of  those 
decisions,  was  necessarily  taken  by  the  highest  authority  of  the  Govern 
ment  :  and  Mr.  Pierce,  from  education,  from  habits  of  thought,  from 
political  affinity,  was  the  proper  man  to  take  it.  Few  statesmen 
of  that  period  were  more  devoted  to  the  party  which  elevated  them. 
In  no  way  distinguished  for  the  powers  of  his  intellect,  he  was  kind 
and  gentlemanly  in  his  deportment,  and  pleasing  in  his  address. 
Unconscious  of  the  philosophy  of  governments,  he  studied  thoroughly 
the  policy  of  his  party,  and  was  unfaltering  in  his  devotion  to  the 
interest  of  slavery.  Under  these  circumstances,  he  really  believed 
that  Congress  held  the  same  legitimate  power  to  legislate  in  favor  of 
slavery  that  it  possessed  to  act  in  favor  of  freedom.  He  was  sincere 
in  the  opinion  that  colored  men  were  in  duty  bound  to  become  slaves, 
to  remain  slaves  at  the  will  of  the  white  race,  and  that  it  was 
a  moral  crime  for  a  black  man  to  obtain  his  liberty  by  the  display 
of  that  virtue  called  heroism :  and  he  strongly  urged  Congress  to  grant 
from  the  public  treasury  full  indemnity  to  the  Spanish  slavedealers  for 
loosing  their  piratical  grasp  upon  their  fellow-men. 

This  recommendation  of  the  President  came  under  debate  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  usual  motion  to  refer  the 
message  to  the  appropriate  committees.  The  writer,  then  the  only 
member  of  the  House  whose  public  life  had  been  contemporaneous  with 
this  claim,  now  for  the  third  time  met  it  with  more  than  usual  confidence, 
repeating  the  positions  which  on  the  two  former  occasions  he  had 
endeavored  to  maintain,  and  representing  the  President's  position  on 
the  subject  in  no  enviable  light.  But  to  his  main  points  he  invoked  the 
attention  of  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  Mr. 


364  THE  "AMISTAD"  SLAVES  AGAIN. 

Bayly,  of  Virginia,  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  southern  delega 
tion  :  and  so  pointed  was  the  writer  on  this  branch  of  his  remarks,  that 
Mr.  Bayly  at  once  said  that  he  would  reply  at  the  first  opportunity, 
and  would  show  the  justice  of  this  claim.  After  the  lapse  of  some  two 
weeks,  the  writer  publicly  called  attention  of  the  House  to  the  promise 
of  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  and  complained  that  he  had  failed  to 
vindicate  the  President's  views.  The  chairman  excused  himself,  saying 
he  had  not  yet  prepared  such  a  vindication  as  he  desired,  but  would  do 
so  at  no  distant  clay.  After  another  month's  delay,  Mr.  Giddings  again 
complained  to  the  House  that  the  chairman  of  the  committee  had  suf 
fered  the  President's  views  to  be  assailed  on  the  important  measure  of 
paying  for  the  "  Amistad  "  slaves,  without  vindicating  them.  To  this  Mr. 
Bayly  listened,  but  made  no  response,  nor  did  the  committee  to  whom 
this  part  of  the  message  was  referred  ever  respond  to  the  propo 
sition,  and  the  claim  again  appeared  to  be  set  at  rest.  But  demo 
cratic  members  and  democratic  presses  denounced  Mr.  Giddings  for 
"  agitating  the  question  of  slavery "  on  debating  the  President's  mes 
sage,  and  declared  that  the  Union  could  not  continue  if  such  agitation 
were  permitted. 

But  a  question  of  far  more  pervading  interest  awaited  debate. 
As  stated  in  the  last  chapter,  a  bill  organizing  a  territorial  govern 
ment  in  Nebraska  had  been  reported  to  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  and  having  passed  that  body  was  sent  to  the  Senate.  It  was 
silent  as  to  slavery,  and  had  therefore  occasioned  no  debate. 
18531  But  as  the  vast  territory  west  and  north  of  Missouri  was  now 
ready  for  the  establishment  of  territorial  governments,  prepara 
tory  to  admission  as  States,  and  as  this  whole  country  had  been  declared 
forever  free  by  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820,  southern  men  viewed 
the  addition  of  more  free  States  from  that  part  of  our  country  as  fixing 
the  boundaries  of  slavery,  which  must  inevitably  result  in  the  total 
extirpation  of  the  institution.  They  had  endeavored  to  avoid  this  result 
by  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  obtaining  California  :  But  the  sceptre 
of  power  had  already  departed  from  the  slave  States.  California  was 
free,  and  it  was  clearly  seen  that  the  addition  of  free  States  from  the 
northwest  would  reduce  the  slave  power  to  a  subordinate  position 
in  the  Government,  which  it  had  controlled  for  more  than  half  a 
century. 

Early  in  the  session,  Senator  Dodge,  of  Iowa,  introduced  a  bill  in  the 
Senate  on  leave,  organizing  a  territorial  government  in  Nebraska.  But 
it  is  believed  that  neither  that  Senator  nor  his  confreres  were  conscious 
of  that  vast  tumultuous  sea  of  agitation  on  which  they  were  about  to 


THE   KANSAS-NEBRASKA   BILt.  365 

launch  the  democratic  bark.  The  bill  was  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Territories,  of  which  Mr.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  was  chairman.  He 
was  a  man  of  some  experience,  having  served  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  several  years,  where  he  failed  to  exhibit  any  extraordinary  powers 
of  intellect.  He  was  however  a  ready  debater.  His  language  was  ap 
propriate,  but  his  arguments  were  more  diffuse  than  logical,  more  plau 
sible  than  profound.  His  great  error  was  that  which  was  common  to 
the  age  in  which  he  lived.  He  constantly  lent  influence  to  whatever  he 
supposed  would  subserve  the  interest  of  himself  or  party,  rather  than  to 
maintain  enduring  truth  and  unerring  justice.  It  is  believed  that  in  his 
whole  public  life  he  never  admitted  the  existence  of  a  higher  law  than 
human  enactments,  or  of  a  power  superior  to  human  governments,  or  of 
interests  more  important  than  those  of  the  democratic  party. 

Mr.  Atchison,  of  Missouri,  was  acting  as  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  and  feeling  a  deep  interest  on  this  question,  proposed  to  Mr.  Doug 
las  to  report  a  bill  authorizing  the  people  of  Nebraska  to  form  a  terri 
torial  government  without  excluding  slavery,  or  he,  Atchison,  would 
resign  his  position  as  Yice-President,  and  take  that  of  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Territories  in  which  Mr.  Douglas  had  served  several 
years.  Mr.  Douglas,  after  reflection,  preferred  to  report  the  bill  himself. 
These  facts  were  afterwards  publicly  stated  by  those  gentlemen  in  the 
Senate,  and  Mr.  Douglas  accordingly  reported  the  bill,  accompanied  by 
an  elaborate  report,  endeavoring  to  show  that  the  people  of  a  ter 
ritory  have  the  moral  right  to  establish  slavery  or  freedom  as  they 
may  deem  most  for  their  own  interest ;  but  he  had  not  in  language 
provided  for  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820.  The 
Senate  ordered  five  thousand  copies  of  the  report  to  be  printed  for  distri 
bution. 

Mr.  Dixon,  of  Tennessee,  gave  notice  that  when  the  bill  should  [1354. 
come  up  for  consideration  he  would  offer  an  amendment  expressly 
repealing  the  8th  section  of  the  act  admitting  Missouri,  which  prohibits 
slavery  in  all  the  Louisiana  purchase  north  of  36  deg.  30  min.  north  latitude. 
Mr.  Douglas  moved  a  recommitment  of  the  bill,  which  was  agreed  to ;  and 
he  subsequently  reported  a  bill  organizing  two  territorial  governments, 
one  for  Kansas  and  the  other  for  Nebraska,  declaring  the  Missouri 
Compromise  inoperative,  and  maintaining  the  right  of  the  people  to  estab 
lish  slavery. 

It  became  obvious  that  a  serious  attempt  to  repeal  the  time-honored 
compromise  was  now  to  be  made  under  the  prestige  of  the  democratic 
party :  and  those  opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery  felt  the 
necessity  of  an  earnest  and  persistent  effort  to  prevent  such  an  outrage 


366  ADDKESS    TO   THE   PEOPLE. 

upon  the  people  of  the  free  States  and  the  rights  of  humanity.  They 
prepared  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States.  It  was 
signed  by  Senators  Chase,  of  Ohio  :  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Hale, 
of  New  Hampshire  ;  Messrs.  Gerrit  Smith,  of  New  York  ;  De  Witt, 
of  Massachusetts  ;  Giddings  and  Edward  Wade,  of  the  House.  The 
subscribers  said  in  the  address,  "We  arraign  this  bill  as  a  gross 
violation  of  a  sacred  pledge  ;  as  a  criminal  betrayal  of  sacred  rights  ; 
as  a  part  and  parcel  of  an  atrocious  plot  to  exclude  from  a  vast  unoccu 
pied  region  emigrants  from  the  old  world  and  free  laborers  from  our 
own  States,  and  convert  it  into  a  dreary  region  inhabited  by  masters  and 
slaves."  This  was  the  tone  and  spirit  of  the  address.  It  invoked  the 
attention  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  free  States  and  called  on  the  people 
to  meet  in  primary  assemblies  and  speak  their  opinions  and  wishes  in  re 
gard  to  it.  It  invited  ministers  and  all  classes  of  people  to  examine  the 
subject  and  express  their  opinions  respecting  it.  It  was  published  in 
most  of  the  whig  papers  and  in  all  those  which  sustained  the  free 
democracy  of  that  day.  The  names  of  Senators  Seward,  of  New 
York,  and  B.  F.  Wade,  of  Ohio,  were  also  on  the  paper  ;  but  those 
gentlemen  preferred  not  to  appear  before  the  public  in  that  way, 
and  erased  their  names  before  publication.  Several  members  of  the 
House  who  had  signed  the  paper,  followed  the  example  of  the  two 
Senators,  and  erased  their  names  before  the  address  appeared  in 
public.* 

The  address  was  written  with  the  intention  of  calling  out  an  expres 
sion  of  the  popular  mind  on  the  subject.  Mr.  Douglas  appeared  to  feel 
the  blow  ;  and  when  the  bill  came  before  the  Senate  a  few  days  subse 
quently,  he  made  a  personal  attack  upon  the  signers,  styling  them  an 
"  abolition  conclave  acting  in  the  dark  and  governed  by  feelings  of  per 
sonal  unkindness."  His  remarks  were  somewhat  offensive  in  their  char 
acter.  Mr.  Chase,  however,  was  present  and  replied,  to  Mr.  Douglas 
with  such  force  as  to  give  him  clearly  to  understand  that  in  carrying  his 
bill  through  the  Senate  he  would  find  argument  necessary  instead  of  epi- 

*  There  was  much  said  at  the  time  in  regard  to  the  authorship  of  this  address.  The  facts  are  as 
follows  :  Mr.  Edward  Wade,  of  the  House,  was  sitting  in  the  author's  room  one  evening,  conversing 
upon  the  subject  of  Mr.  Douglas'  report.  It  was  remarked  that  its  result  would  be  defeat  to  the 
democratic  party.  Mr.  Chase,  of  the  Senate,  cp.tne  in  and  joined  in  the  conversation.  It  was  agreed 
by  these  members  that  an  address  to  the  people  ought  to  be  published.  Mr.  Giddings,  regarding 
Mr.  Chase  as  an  accomplished  scholar,  proposed  that  he  should  pen  the  address.  Mr.  Chase  sug 
gested  that  if  Mr.  Giddings  would  put  his  thoughts  on  paper,  he,  Mr.  Chase,  would  revise  and  cor 
rect  them.  Mr.  Giddings  wrote  out  the  address,  and  placed  it  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Chase,  who  cor 
rected  and  rewrote  it.  It  was  then  submitted  to  Mr.  Smith,  who  also  made  some  verbal  correc 
tions  and  submitted  it  to  Mr.  Sumner,  who  also  examined  and  corrected  it,  and  the  paper  went  to 
press  precisely  as  Mr.  Sumner  left  it  and  may  now  be  found  at  length  in  "  Congressional  Globe," 
vol.  xxiii.,  pages  281-2. 


PEOPLE  DENOUNCE  THE  MEASURE.  367 

thets  and  declamation.  Mr.  Douglas  replied,  and  instead  of  maintaining 
the  doctrines  or  policy  of  his  bill,  reiterated  his  personal  attacks  upon 
the  signers  of  the  address.  Mr.  Sumner  rejoined  in  language  of  elo 
quent  severity  touching  the  objects  and  purposes  of  the  bill,  which  he 
declared  could  not  be  described  in  language,  saying  it  was  "  a  soulless, 
eyeless  monster,  horrid,  unshapely  and  vast." 

But  the  great  issue  of  slavery  or  freedom  in  our  Territories 
was  now  made  up  and  entered  upon  the  record.  The  leading 
members  of  the  democratic  party  had  expected  it  would  prostrate  the 
opponents  of  slavery  :  while  the  friends  of  Constitutional  freedom  ap 
peared  equally  confident  that  it  would  result  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
democratic  party,  and  would  eventually  place  the  friends  of  liberty  in 
possession  of  the  Government.  The  great  prize  to  be  lost  or  won  was 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  primal  rights  of  human  nature.  Through 
out  the  country  and  in  Congress  men  prepared  for  the  conflict.  In  the 
Senate  the  debate  became  general  and  of  absorbing  interest,  and 
instead  of  consolidating  political  parties,  it  soon  became  evident  that  it 
was  severing  political  friends.  Southern  Whjgs  now  united  with  south 
ern  Democrats  in  favor  of  the  bill,  and  northern  Democrats  united  with 
Free-soilers  in  resisting  this  extension  of  slavery  into  territory  which  had 
thirty  years  previously  been  consecrated  to  freedom.  The  debate  in  the 
Senate  called  out  the  able  men  of  that  body.  Public  meetings  in  the 
country  were  held  and  the  people  passed  resolutions  disapproving  of  the 
attempts  to  repeal  the  Missouri  restriction.  The  Legislatures  of  seve 
ral  States  adopted  resolutions  denouncing  such  repeal.  People  sent 
petitions  to  both  Houses  of  Congress  remonstrating  against  this  per 
fidious  violation  of  pledged  faith.  Three  thousand  and  fifty  minis 
ters  of  various  religious  denominations  in  New  England  sent  to  Con 
gress  their  solemn  protest  against  the  perpetration  of  this  national  crime 
of  extending  slavery  into  territory  once  made  free  by  the  voice  of  the 
nation.  They  protested  against  it  as  a  great  moral  wrong,  justly  incur 
ring  the  righteous  judgment  of  the  Almighty.* 

The  presentation  of  this  memorial  may  be  said  to  constitute  an  era  in 

*  The  following  is  a  copy  of  this  solemn  protest : 

"  We,  the  undersigned  clergymen  of  different  denominations  In  New  England,  hereby,  in  the  name 
of  ALMIG1ITY  GOD  and  in  HIS  presence,  do  solemnly  protest  against  the  passage  of  what  is  gene 
rally  known  as  the  Nebraska  bill,  or  any  repeal  or  modification  of  the  existing  prohibitions  of  slavery 
in  that  part  of  our  national  domain  which  it  is  proposed  to  organize  into  the  territories  of  Nebraska 
and  Kansas. 

"  We  protest  against  it  as  a  great  national  wrong,  as  a  breach  of  faith  eminently  unjust  to  the 
moral  principles  of  the  community  and  subversive  of  all  confidence  in  national  engagements  :  a 
measure  full  of  danger  to  the  peace  and  even  to  the  existence  of  our  beloved  Union,  and  ex 
posing  us  to  the  righteous  judgments  of  the  Almighty." 


368  MOKAL  ASPECT  OF  THE  CONTEST. 

the  great  moral  and  political  revolution  which  was  daily  becoming  more 
and  more  obvious.  The  protest  of  these  clergymen  served  to  call 
public  attention  to  the  one  point  so  destructive  of  slavery,  to  wit,  its 
crimes.  Those  ministers  evidently  hated  slavery  for  its  depravity  ; 
and  held  to  the  fundamental  truth,  that  the  natural  law,  which 
they  with  perfect  propriety  usually  call  the  will  of  God,  .had  vouch 
safed  to  every  human  soul  the  right  to  live,  to  gain  intelligence,  and  pre 
pare  for  heaven  ;  and  this  memorial  was  hailed  by  the  lovers  of  justice 
as  the  harbinger  of  a  corrected  public  sentiment. 

1S54  The  memorial  was  presented  by  Senator  Everett,  of  Massachu 

setts,  and  having  been  read,  Mr.  Douglas  appeared  to  feel  keenly 
the  advantage  which  this  moral  view  of  the  question  gave  his  opponents. 
He  assailed  the  memorialists,  declaring  they  had  followed  the  suggestions 
of  the  address  of  the  members  of  Congress  ;  denounced  them  as  poli 
tical  preachers  ;  charged  them  with  ignorance  ;  said  the  memorial  was 
offensive  and  libellous,  and  asserted  that  the  signers  ought  to  be  rebuked 
and  required  to  confine  themselves  to  their  proper  vocation. 

Mr.  Houston,  of  Texas,  defended  the  memorialists,  declaring  the  right 
of  the  clergy  to  speak  their  opinions  frankly  and  fearlessly  of  public 
men  and  public  measures,  and  expressed  his  own  approbation  of  the 
memorial. 

Mr.  Mason,  of  Yirginia,  assailed  the  memorialists,  denying  their  right 
to  approach  Congress  as  professional  men,  or  to  pronounce  judgment  upon 
any  proceeding  of  that  body,  and  closed  my  moving  that  the  memorial 
be  not  received. 

Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  and  Mr.  Adams,  of  Mississippi,  sus 
tained  the  motion  of  Mr.  Mason. 

Mr.  Everett  replied  to  these  assaults  upon  the  clergy.  He  was  a 
learned  man,  and  an  accomplished  speaker  ;  had  served  in  early  life  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  more  recently  as  minister  at  London. 
He  defended  the  memorialists  in  kind  and  gentle  language,  which 
contrasted  very  distinctly  with  the  violence  of  Mr.  Mason  and  Mr. 
Douglas. 

Mr.  Petit,  of  Indiana,  next  addressed  the  Senate.  He  was  a  man  of 
more  mental  strength  than  mental  culture.  Long  residence  upon  the 
frontier  of  civilization  had  rendered  him  somewhat  regardless  of  that 
refinement  of  thought  and  of  language  which  is  always  desirable  in  public 
men.  Nor  did  the  free  expression  of  his  thoughts,  in  the  language  most 
natural  to  him,  appear  to  be  restricted  by  respect  for  those  around  him, 
or  for  the  body  of  which  he  was  a  member. 

Mr.  Seward,  of  New  York,  closed  the  debate  by  a  lucid  statement  of 


VOTE   OF   THE   SENATE.  369 

facts  and  arguments,  which  apparently  left  no  one  in  doubt  as  to  the 
propriety  of  the  memorial,  and  which  he  respectfully  moved  to  lay  upon 
the  table,  and  the  motion  was  agreed  to. 

This  debate  illustrated  the  great  advantage  which  the  advocates 
of  liberty  and  justice  always  wield  over  the  supporters  of  slavery,  by 
referring  to  the  moral  view  of  that  institution. 

The  bill  was  brought  to  final  action  in  the  Senate  on  the  3d  March, 
and  was  passed  by  a  vote  of  3 t  to  14,  Messrs.  Bell,  of  Tenne-ssee,  and 
Houston,  of  Texas,  voting  against  it.  All  the  other  Senators  from  slave 
States  voted  for  it,  assisted  by  Messrs.  Brodhead,  of  Pennsylvania  ; 
Cass  and  Stuart,  of  Michigan  ;  Dodge  and  Jones,  of  Iowa  ;  Douglas,  of 
Illinois  ;  Morris,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Petit,  of  Indiana  ;  Thompson, 
of  New  Jersey  ;  Toucy,  of  Connecticut ;  Weller  and  Gwin,  of  California. 

Before  the  bill  was  taken  up  in  the  House,  a  meeting  of  the      rig 
democratic  members  was  held  in  the  Capitol.     Some  denounced 
the  policy,  and  others  declared  their  intention  to  leave  the  organization 
rather  than  participate  in  the  proposed  outrage.     Some  left  the  party, 
and  never  more  acted  with  it ;  but  the  slaveholders  were  inexorable, 
and  most  of  the  members  were  constrained  to  assist  in  the  passage  of 
the  bill. 

When  the  bill  was  taken  from  the  Speaker's  table,  Mr.  Cutting,  a 
young  member,  a  Democrat  from  the  city  of  New  York,  moved  its  refer 
ence  to  the  Committee  of  the  whole  House.  The  motion  prevailed, 
and  it  was  expected  at  the  time  that  it  would  defeat  the  bill.  Mr. 
Cutting  had  been  known  to  the  public  as  an  able  lawyer,  and  a  man  of 
a  high  order  of  talents  :  But  loud  and  deep  were  the  curses  heaped 
upon  him  by  the  slaveholders,  who  viewed  his  action  as  exciting  an 
insurrection  against  southern  influence. 

A  few  days  after,  Mr.  Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky,  spoke  upon  this 
subject,  although  the  bill  was  not  before  the  House  for  consideration 
He,  too,  was  a  young  and  talented  member.  He  had  been  reared 
in  a  slaveholding  community,  and  brought  with  him  the  "hauteur" 
of  southern  life.  He  spoke  of  Cutting's  motion  to  refer  the  bill  with 
some  severity  :  declared  that  he  had  represented  himself  as  a  friend 
of  the  measure  while  he  had  done  all  in  his  power  to  kill  the  bill  : 
that  his  course  had  been  like  throwing  his  arm  around  the  neck, 
saying,  "  How  is  it  with  thee,  my  brother  ?"  while  with  the  other  hand 
he  inflicted  the  fatal  stab. 

Four  days  afterwards  Mr.  Cutting  replied  to  this  assault  upon  his 
motives  by  Mr.  Breckinridge.  Apparently  unwilling  to  submit  to  the 
supercilious  bearing  of  his  southern  confrere,  he  declared  that  the 

24 


370  MORAL   EFFORTS   CONTINUED. 

Democrats  of  New  York  had  contributed  fifteen  hundred  dollars  to  be 
expended  in  efforts  to  procure  the  election  of  Breckinridge  to  Congress. 
Breckinridge  explained,  admitting  the  contribution,  but  insisting  that  it 
was  the  duty  of  every  member  to  sustain  the  Senate's  bill.  Cutting 
rejoined,  saying  his  opponent  had  skulked  behind  the  Senate  bill. 
Breckinridge  asked  him  to  withdraw  the  remark.  Cutting  refused,  and 
Breckinridge  pronounced  it  false.  Cutting  responded,  that  this  was 
not  the  place  to  reply  to  such  language.* 

This  conflict  between  two  able  members,  each  representing  a  section 
of  the  democratic  party,  was  regarded  as  somewhat  ominous  of  the 
effect  which  this  measure  was  to  exert  upon  that  organization. 

More  than  five  hundred  clergymen,  mostly  from  Illinois,  transmitted 
to  the  Senate  a  respectful  remonstrance  against  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise.  A  meeting  of  clergymen,  held  in  the  city 
of  Chicago,  where  Mr.  Douglas  resided,  adopted  resolutions  dis 
approving  his  remarks  upon  the  memorial  sent  to  the  Senate  by 
more  than  three  thousand  clergymen  of  New  England.  These  evi 
dences  of  dissatisfaction  at  the  great  moral  outrage  about  to  be 
perpetrated,  gave  evident  uneasiness  to  the  advocates  of  the  mea 
sure.  Mr.  Douglas  replied  to  the  memorial  of  the  western  clergy 
with  more  severity  than  Christian  forbearance  ;  and  showed  very 
distinctly  that  he  regarded  political  duties  in  no  way  allied  to  moral 
obligation. 

^  or  were  tne  c^er      so  distinct  and  lucid  in  their  views  as  the 


1364  ] 

occasion  seemed  to  demand.     They  spoke  of  slavery  as  a  sin,  a 

wrong  in  general  terms,  without  referring  to  that  consciousness  of  the 
right  to  life  and  liberty  which  the  Creator  breathes  into  every  human 
soul,  and'  which  is  the  outworkings  of  His  will  and  the  evidence  of  his 
law.  But  the  influence  of  the  clergy,  which  had  been  inactive  generally, 
and  in  some  instances  exerted  for  the  benefit  of  slavery,  was  now 
exerted  for  freedom  and  justice.  Sermons  were  preached  demon 
strating  the  criminal  character  of  slavery.  Many  of  these  were  printed 
and  widely  distributed,  and  much  information  was  disseminated  among 
the  people  on  the  subject. 

But  party  discipline  was  used  to  counteract  their  efforts.  The  democratic 
organization  had  been  in  power  at  least  four-fifths  of  the  time  since  the 
election  of  Jefferson  in  1800,  and  its  members  believed  it  always  would 

*  Rumor  represented  a  challenge  as  being  sent  to  Breckinridge  the  next  day,  and  a  duel  was  said 
to  have  been  arranged  ;  the  matter,  however,  was  in  some  way  settled,  but  the  terms  of  settlement 
were  not  published.  At  the  close  of  that  Congress,  Mr.  Cutting  retired  to  private  life,  but  Breckin 
ridge  remained  until  the  rebellion,  when  he  joined  the  rebels,  and  became  a  general  in  the  Confe 
derate  service. 


VOTE   PF  THE  HOUSE.  ^  371 

control  the  Government,  and  they  were  unwilling  to  offend  its  leaders. 
Adhering  democratic  members  of  the  House,  by  frequent  consultations, 
were  finally  prepared  to  act  unitedly  in  favor  of  the  Senate  bill  :  and  on 
the  9th  May  they  proceeded  by  vote  to  lay  aside  every  bill  holding 
position  on  the  calendar  prior  to  that  organizing  governments  in  Kansas 
and  Nebraska,  and  when  that  was  reached,  Mr.  Richardson,  of  Illinois, 
offered  the  Senate  bill  as  a  substitute  for  that  reported  by  the  committee 
of  the  House,  and  the  whole  subject  came  legitimately  before  that  body 
for  final  action. 

The  proposition  excited  intense  interest,  and  elicited  the  best  talent 
of  the  House.  Indeed,  nearly  every  member  gave  utterance  to  his 
own  views.  The  leaders  of  the  democratic  party  found  that  the  subject 
had  got  beyond  their  control.  They  could  not  limit  the  debate, 
which  appeared  interminable,  and  recourse  was  had  to  legislative 
chicanery. 

Mr.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  formerly  a  Whig  but  now  acting  with  the 
democratic  party,  moved  to  strike  out  the  enacting  clause  of  the  bill  ? 
The  opponents  of  the  measure,  supposing  that  this  .motion  if  carried 
would  defeat  the  bill,  voted  for  it.  The  motion  prevailed  and  the  bill 
was  reported  to  the  House  as  thus  amended  ;  the  previous  question  was 
demanded,  and  the  House  was  thus  brought  to  a  direct  vote  on  its 
passage. 

All  members  from  the  slave  States  voted  for  the  bill,  as  did  also 
Messrs.  McDonald,  of  Maine  ;  Ingersoll,  of  Connecticut  ;  Henn,  of 
Iowa  ;  Hibbard,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Lilley  and  Vail,  of  New  Jersey  ; 
Clark  and  Stuart,  of  Michigan  ;  Latham  and  McDougal,  of  California  ; 
Disney,  Greene,  Olds,  Shannon,  and  Taylor,  of  Ohio  ;  Davis,  Dunham, 
English,  Hendricks,  Lane,  and  Miller,  of  Indiana  ;  Brooks,  Cutting, 
Hose,  Walbridge,  Walker,  Walsh,  and  Westbrook,  of  New  York  ; 
Bridges,  Dawson,  Eddy,  Florence,  Jones,  Kurtz,  McNair,  Parker, 
Bobbins,  Wright,  and  Witte,  of  Pennsylvania. 

Thus  forty  members  from  the  free  States  voted  to  repeal  the  Missouri 
restriction  in  order  to  extend  slavery  into  Kansas,, and  Nebraska.  Of 
them  it  is  believed  that  only  two,  Mr.  Brooks,  of  New  York,  and  Tay 
lor,  of  Ohio,  claimed  affinity  with  the  whig  party.  The  others  had 
acted  with  the  democratic  organization.  But  it  should  be  remarked 
that  southern  Whigs  and  Democrats  uniformly  acted  together  on  all 
subjects  involving  the  institution  of  slavery.. 

The  bill  was  returned  to  the  Senate  for  concurrence  in  the  amendments. 

On  debating  these  amendments,  the  agitating  question  of  slavery  in 
all  its  bearings  was  again  discussed  ;  but  in  time  the  amendments  were 


372  %  •    POLITICAL   PROPHESYING. 

agreed  to  and  the  bill  was  approved  by  the  President,  and  became  a 
law. 

18541  ^is  was  literally  a  democratic  measure,  declared  by  its 
advocates  to  be  "necessary  to  silence  agitation  AND  SAVE  THE 
UNION  ;"  while  its  opponents  with  unhesitating  coniidence  maintained 
that  it  would  increase  agitation  and  constitute  an  important  step  to 
wards  the  dissolution  of  the  Union.  Events  have  proven  that  it  was  an 
important  incident  in  "  the  regime  of  slavery." 

The  Senate  presented  an  extraordinary  spectacle  on  the  morning  when 
the  President's  message  approving  the  bill  was  received.  General  Cass, 
a  man  of  great  experience,  venerable  for  his  age,  arose  and  proclaimed 
to  the  country  that  peace  and  harmony  would  now  govern  our  public 
councils,  that  there  would  be  no  more  agitation  concerning  slavery.  This 
was  doubtless  the  real  opinion  of  the  leading  statesmen  of  the  democratic 
party  ;  while  the  entire  history  of  the  Government  showed  that  every 
act  in  obedience  to  slavery  had  served  to  increase  its  demands,  and 
every  step  taken  by  the  democratic  or  whig  party  to  save  the  Union  con 
stituted  an  important  advance  towards  its  dissolution.  That  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  tending  to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union 
became  evident  soon  after  its  passage. 

The  people  of  Connecticut  felt  the  severe  blow  which  civilization 
received  from  this  extension  of  slavery.  The  Legislature  of  that  State 
being  in  session,  adopted  resolutions  deprecating  the  repeal,  and  declaring 
their  intention  of  never  consenting  to  the  admission  of  a  slave  State 
from  the  territory. 

These  resolutions  were  presented  to  the  Senate,  and  soon  as  they  were 
read,  Mr.  Cass,  who  but  a  few  days  previously  had  assured  the  country 
that  there  would  be  no  more  "agitation"  on  the  subject  of  slavery, 
was  the  first  member  of  the  Senate  to  become  agitated  on  Hearing 
them  read.  He  at  once  arose  and  in.  an  audible  voice  and  excited 
manner  said,  "I  hope  those  resolutions  when  put  into  plain  English 
do  not  mean  another  Hartford  Convention." 

This  allusion  to  the  convention  held  at  Hartford  in  1813,  to  devise 
measures  to  relieve  the  people  of  New  England  from  the  sufferings  which 
tlfe  war  had  brought  upon  them,  was  supposed  to  have  been  intentionally 
offensive  to  the  Representatives  of  that  State  ;  and  Mr.  Smith  replied, 
saying,  the  resolutions  contained  nothing  to  provoke  the  remarks  of  the 
Senator  from  Michigan,  who  would  in  due  time  learn  that  they  not 
only  spoke  the  sentiments  of  the  people  of  Connecticut  but  of  Michi 
gan  also. 


PREPARATIONS   FOR   CIVIL   WAR.  373 

This  prophecy  of  Mr.  Smith  called  forth  a  reply  from  General  Cass, 
in  which  he  asserted  the  rightful  powers  of  governments  to  establish 
slavery  if  their  people  choose,  substantially  denying  that  governments 
are  formed  to  secure  the  enjoyment  of  liberty,  in  any  greater  degree  thaa 
to  secure  the  existence  of  slavery. 

Soon  as  this  bill  had  re-ceived  the  Executive  sanction,  the  democratic 
party  prepared  for  the  next  step  tending  to  the  dissolution  of  the  Union. 
A  plan  was  adopted  for  invading  the  territory  with  an  armed  force,  tak 
ing  possession  of  the  ballot  boxes  on  the  day  of  election,  in  order  to 
establish  a  slaveholding  government. 

It  is  unknown  to  what  extent  members  were  involved  in  this  plan  for 
initiating  that  civil  war  which  has  since  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
civilized  world.  Our  statements  rest  upon  well  established  incidents, 
explained  by  those  who  professed  to  be  familiar  with  and  were  sup 
posed  to  understand  the  plot.  It  was  known  at  Washington  that  Vice- 
President  Atchison  left  the  Presidency  of  the  Senate  while  that  body 
continued  in  session  ;  that  he  went  immediately  to  western  Missouri,  was 
active  in  instituting  what  were  called  "  blue  lodges,"  and  in  his  public 
conduct  exhibited  an  intense  anxiety  to  induce  men  to  go  to  Kansas  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  a  slaveholding  government  there.  His 
secret  consultations  before  he  left,  and  the  persons  with  whom  he 
consulted,  are  not  so 'well  understood.  It  was  said,  however,  that  the 
leaders  of  the  democratic  party  were  generally  consulted  and  agreed 
that  force  and  violence  and  civil  war  must  be  resorted  to  if  neces 
sary  to  establish  slavery,  and  that  arrangements  were  made  for  the 
slave  States  to  send  men  and  money  to  Kansas  in  order  to  carry  out 
this  plan. 

Nor  were  the  advocates  of  free  soil  idle.  The  "  Emigrant  Aid 
Society  "  of  New  England  was  formed,  and  assistance  was  tendered  to 
every  man  and  family  who  wished  to  remove  to  that  territory.  Funds 
were  raised,  and  emigrants  were  on  their  wa,y  to  that  theatre  of  action 
soon  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress. 

While  public  attention  was  thus  directed  towards  Kansas,  some  three 
or  four  thousand  citizens  of  Massachusetts'  sent  to  the  Senate  a  petition 
asking  the  repeal  of  the  fugitive  slave  act.  It  was  respectful  in  lan 
guage  and  unexceptional  in  its  tone  and  spirit.  Senator  Rockwell, 
who  presented  it,  remarked  upon  the  circumstances  under  which  the  fugi 
tive  act  had  been  passed,  and  the  feelings  which  it  had  excited.  He 
also  stated  that  the  peace  and  quietude  of  the  country  demanded  its 
repeal. 


374: 


S17MNEK   AND   BUTLEK. 


Mr.  Jones,  of  Tennessee,  who  had  once  acted  with  the  Whigs, 
appeared  desirous  of  avowing  his  unqualified  allegiance  to  slavery  ; 
and  somewhat  arrogantly  declared  that  all  who  opposed  the  fugitive  act 
were  opposed  to  the  Constitution.  Senator  Sumner,  hearing  his  people 
thus  assailed,  replied  to  Mr.  Jones  with  great  energy  of  thought  and  of 
language.  He  had  regarded  the  fugitive  slave  act  with  abhorrence  from 
its  first  introduction,  and  now  felt  all  the  stirring  motions  necessary  to 
arouse  his  intellectual  powers.  He  hurled  back  the  charge  that  those 
opposed  to  the  fugitive  act  were  opposed  to  the  Constitution  ;  and  with 
the  force  of  obvious  truth  showed  that  those  who  voted  for  that  act 
violated  the  Constitution,  and  the  rights  of  human  nature,  and  the  civi 
lization  of  the  age. 

Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  interrupted  him  to  inquire  if  he  would 
arrest  a  fugitive  slave  ?  Sunmer  turned  partially  around,  and  looking 
Butler  full  in  the  face  with  a  scowl  of  contempt  that  was  inimitable, 
and  in  a  tone  of  voice  and  manner  most  withering,  replied  :  "  Is  thy 
servant  a  dog  that  he  should  do  this  thing?'7  He  appeared  to  be 
moved  from  the  deepest  recesses  of  his  moral  nature,  and  speaking 
from  the  holiest  impulses  of  the  heart,  he  could  not  fail  to  impress 
those  who  heard  him.  Butler  resumed  his  seat,  apparently  regretting 
that  he  had  propounded  the  insulting  question  ;  intense  silence  per 
vaded  the  Senate  chamber,  and  the  whole  scene  was  one  not  easily 
forgotten. 

The  friends  of  freedom  in  Congress  were  also  greatly  encouraged  by 
the  presence,  the  aid,  and  assistance  of  Hon.  Gerrit  Smith,  a  repre 
sentative  from  central  New  York.  He  was  a  man  of  great  wealth,  and 
had  long  been  distinguished  as  a  leading  philanthropist.  He  had  been 
well  educated  and  was  regarded  as  possessing  a  high  order  of  talents. 
At  his  first  advent  to  the  House  he  led  off  in  the  debate  upon  that 
part  of  the  President's  message  which  related  to  the  seizure  of  "  Martin 
Costa  "  on  board  an  American  vessel  lying  in  a  neutral  port,  showing 
himself  well  versed  in  international  law.  His  whole  energies  were 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  justice  and  liberty. 

The  Administration  having  been  brought  into  power  by  aid  of 
slaveholding  influence,  appeared  anxious  to  subserve  the  interest  of  the 
"  peculiar  institution."  In  the  month  of  February  a  steamer  called  the 
"  Black  Hawk  "  cleared  from  Mobile  for  New  York  by  way  of  Havana, 
and  arriving  at  that  port,  was  reported  by  the  captain  as  in  ballast, 
while  she  really  had  some  five  hundred  bales  of  cotton  on  board  that 
were  not  mentioned  in  her  manifest.  These  facts  becoming  known  to  the 
proper  officers,  the  steamer  was  seized  and  held  for  trial.  It  was  gene- 


EFFORTS   TO    CREATE   A    WAR    WITH    SPAIN.  375 

rally  understood  that  the  democratic  party  were  anxious  to  obtain 
Cuba,  though  at  that  time  no  open  avowal  of  the  fact  had  been  an 
nounced  ;  yet  it  was  supposed  that  the  leaders  of  the  party  would 
gladly  welcome  a  war  with  Spain  in  order  to  obtain  that  island. 

On  the  10th  March,  Mr.  Phillips,  of  Alabama,  said  he  desired  to  pre 
sent  a  resolution  upon  a  grave  and  important  matter,  involving  the  in 
terest  of  his  constituents  and  the  honor  of  the  nation.  He  then  pre 
sented  a  resolution  calling  upon  the  President  to  communicate  to  the 
House  such  information  as  he  might  deem  proper  in  relation  to 
the  seizure  of  the  ship  "  Black  Hawk,"  and  the  confiscation  of  her 
cargo. 

The  resolution  was  adopted  without  objection,  and  a  few  days  sub 
sequently  the.  President  sent  to  the  House  full  information  on  that  sub 
ject  ;  and  said  that  "  other  acts  of  aggression  upon  our  commerce  had 
been  perpetrated  by  her  Catholic  Majesty  for  which  reparation  had 
been  delayed  in  a  very  unreasonable  manner.  That  the  Cuban  authori 
ties  were  wanton  in  their  aggressions,  while  Spain  delayed  or  refused 
indemnity  ;"  and  referring  to  the  situation  of  Cuba,  her  proximity  to  our 
coast,  said,  "  it  would  be  in  vain  to  suppose  that  she  could  adopt  a 
policy  unfriendly  to  our  commerce  and  '  other  interests?  without  exciting 
the  most  intense  feelings  of  our  people  ;"  and  closed  by  declaring  that 
he  should  "  feel  disposed  to  carry  out  any  measures  which  Congress 
might  see  fit  to  adopt  in  relation  to  the  matter." 

The  message  was  clearly  a  recommendation  of  war,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  obtain  Cuba.  Its  tone,  and  language,  and  reference  to 
other  interests,  meaning  the  interests  of  slavery,  could  leave  no  doubt  as 
to  the  intention  of  the  President. 

The  message  being  read,  Mr.  Bayly,  of  Yirginia,  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  expressed  his  admiration  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  subject  had  been  treated,  and  moved  its  reference  to  the 
committee  of  which  he  was  chairman.  The  motion  was  carried,  and 
thus  far  all  seemed  to  favor  the  objects  of  the  slaveholders. 

The  next  morning  the  writer  moved  a  reconsideration  of  the  vote 
referring  the  message,  and  in  a  speech  of  an  hour's  length,  exposed  the 
designs  of  the  President  and  party  for  getting  up  another  war  for  the 
extension  of  slavery,  referred  to  the  war  with  Mexico  for  that  purpose, 
and  the  defeat  of  its  objects  in  part,  and  assured  the  friends  of  the  war 
now  proposed  that  if  Cuba  was  obtained,  it  would  be  made  free  before 
it  would  be  admitted  as  a  State  to  our  Federal  Union.  Mr.  Bayly 
replied,  but  denied  none  of  the  objects  imputed  to  the  President  arid  his 
party  ;  yet  this  timely  exposure,  together  with  the  existing  difficulties  in 


376        NEGROES  AND  DEMOCRATS  COMPARED. 

regard  to  Kansas,  probably  prevented  further  efforts  to  produce  a  war 
with  Spain,  for  the  increase  of  the  slave  power.* 

18541  During  this  session  northern  servility  was  still  further  ex 
hibited.  The  bill  granting  homesteads  to  actual  settlers  on  the 
public  lands  was  under  consideration,  when  Mr.  Wright,  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  moved  an  amendment  limiting  its  benefits  to  the  white  people,  and 
made  a  speech  in  favor  of  excluding  blacks. 

A  Free-soiler  moved  a  modification  of  the  amendment,  permitting  all 
persons  "more  than  half  white"  to  participate  in  the  benefits  of  the 
law.  The  mover  proceeded  to  deprecate  the  policy  of  excluding  the 
descendants  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  of  Martha  Washington,  who  were 
well  known  throughout  the  country  to  be  more  than  half  white, 
although  held  in  bondage.  He  declared  that  he  had  no  intention 
to  interfere  in  the  quarrel  which  was  evidently  going  on  between 
the  democratic  party  and  the  negroes  ;  as  to  which  possessed  the 
best  native  talent :  But  it  was  well  known  that  a  few  years  before  the 
House  had  been  engaged  in  estimating  the  value  of  a  black  man  who 
read  and  spoke  four  languages  with  facility  ;  and  he  doubted  whether 
the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  was  able  to  give  such  an  exhibition  of 
literature  ;  yet  by  this  comparison  of  the  two  gentlemen  he  intended  no 
offence  to  the  negro.  The  burst  of  laughter  which  followed  appeared  to 
make  a  more  serious  impression  upon  slaveholding  members  than  the 
most  profound  argument.  They  seemed  to  feel,  for  the  first  time,  that 
they  were  likely  to  become  the  subjects  of  contempt. 

For  years  the  advocates  of  slavery  assailed  the  personal  character 
of  all\  who  devoted  their  energies  to  the  support  of  truth  and  justice. 
During  the  session  of  Congress  now  under  consideration  they  invaded 
the  sanctuary  of  the  departed,  and  assailed  the  memory  of  Mr.  Adams. 
His  friends,  however,  met  these  attempts  to  disparage  the  character  of 
the  illustrious  dead,  and  vindicated  the  fair  fame  of  the  "  old  man  elo 
quent,"  as  may  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  report  of  congressional 
debates  in  April,  1854. 

The  fugitive  slave  act  had  now  been  in  force  three  years,  and  was  far 
more  unpopular  than  when  first  enacted.  Yet  the  friends  of  that  measure 
were  still  desirous  of  enforcing  it  in  Boston.  A  fugitive,  named  Sims, 
from  Georgia,  was  arrested  in  that  city  and  imprisoned  in  the  Court 
house,  and  a  force  of  armed  men  were  left  to  guard  him.  These  men 
were  generally  of  that  base  character,  who,  having  stifled  the  natural 

*  Jefferson  Davis,  at  that  time  Secretary  of  War,  in  a  public  speech,  while  visiting  Mississippi, 
stated  that  the  President  did  everything  incumbent  on  him  to  produce  a  war  with  Spain  ;  but  de 
clared  that  Congress  did  not  sustain  his  efforts. 


A   FUGITIVE   SLAVE  CASE.  377 

sympathies  of  the  human  soul,  were  anxious  to  maintain  the  influence  of 
the  political  party  to  which  they  were  attached  by  dooming  a  fellow- 
being  to  degrading  bondage.  A  few  friends  of  liberty  felt  that  their 
city  was  again  disgraced  by  a  barbarism  unsuited  to  the  age,  or  to  any 
Christian  community,  and  anxious  to  maintain  the  reputation  of  their 
ancient  commonwealth,  collected  together  and  proceeded  to  break  the 
door  of  the  Courthouse  in  which  Sims  was  imprisoned. 

A  deputy  marshal,  with  his  assistant  slave-catchers  who  were  in  the 
house,  met  those  who  were  endeavoring  to  enter.  Shots  were  exchanged, 
and  for  an  instant  there  was  the  clash  of  arms  ;  but  as  one  of  the  guard 
fell,  those  who  were  outside,  as  if  conscious  of  the  responsibility  which 
they  incurred,  fled  amid  the  darkness  of  the  night  without  being 
recognized.  After  they  left  it  was  found  that  one  of  the  guard,  named 
"  Batchelder,"  had  been  struck  by  some  sharp-pointed  instrument ;  the 
femoral  artery  had  been  pierced,  and  he  died  immediately. 

The  feelings  of  the  people  were  greatly  excited.  The  man  had  fallen 
while  assisting  to  rob  his  fellow-man  of  liberty,  which  all  regarded  as  far 
dearer  than  life,  and  no  one  doubted  that  he  had  received  retributive 
justice  at  the  hands  of  the  assailants. 

The  United  States  troops  were  at  once  called  from  the  fortifi- 
cations  around  Boston,  and  placed  on  guard.  The  Courthouse 
was  surrounded  by  chains.  The  victim  was  kept  in  an  upper  room, 
which  could  only  be  approached  through  files  of  armed  troops.  A  Com 
missioner,  named  Loring,  sat  in  judgment  upon  Sims'  right  to  life  and 
liberty.  The  fugitive  was  ably  defended  by  Mr.  Dana,  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  lawyers  of  Boston.  The  trial  lasted  several  days.  It  was, 
however,  a  mere  formality.  At  length  Loring,  the  Commissioner,  decided 
that  Sims  did  not  hold  his  life  and  liberty  at  the  will  of  the  Creator,  but 
at  the  will  of  his  master,  and  a  decree  for  his  delivery  was  entered. 
The  victim  was  taken  to  the  wharf,  surrounded  by  a  strong  guard  of 
soldiers,  who,  by  their  bayonets,  held  the  indignant  people  at  bay. 
Having  reached  the  wharf  he  was  placed  on  board  a  steamer,  which 
instantly  left  the  shore,  amid  the  tolling  of  bells ;  while  the  flags  in  the 
city  and  on  board  the  ships  in  the  harbor  were  raised  at  half-mast,  as 
an  evidence  of  sympathy  for  a  fellow-being  who  was  thus  consigned  to  a 
moral  grave. 

The  expense  of  sending  this  man  to  servitude  was  borne  by  the  United 
States,  and  was  estimated  at  $30,000,  beside  the  life  of  Batchelder. 

The  resistance  which  caused  the  death  of  Batchelder  imparted  to  the 
transaction  a  serious  importance.  But  the  President  now  issued  no 
proclamation,  nor  did  the  Secretary  of  War  or  of  the  Navy  issue  General 


378  EFFORTS   TO  PENSION  A   SLAVE-CATCHER'S  WIDOW. 

Orders,  as  had  been  done  when  Shadrach  escaped.  The  victim  had  been 
secured  and  sent  to  slavery,  while  the  transaction  had  awakened  a 
resistance  to  the  fugitive  act  that  was  deep  and  abiding  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  Mr.  Faulkner,  of  Virginia,,  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  moved  to  suspend  the  rules,  in 
order  to  introduce  a  bill  giving  the  widow  of  Batchelder  a  pension  ;  but 
Messrs.  Dean,  of  New  York,  and  Jones,  of  Tennessee,  Democrats, 
objected  ;  while  Mr.  Giddings,  of  Ohio,  was  in  favor  of  suspending  the 
rules,  provided  the  bill  should  be  subjected  to  debate  ;  but  the  House 
refused  to  suspend  the  rules.  Indeed,  so  timid  were  northern  Democrats 
that  very  few  of  them  voted  with  the  slaveholders  on  that  occasion.* 

In  the  Senate,  however,  the  bill  was  referred,  and  Messrs.  Clay,  of 
Alabama  ;  Williams,  of  New  Hampshire,  and  Jones,'  of  Iowa,  reported 
it  back  to  the  Senate  recommending  its  passage  ;  while  Senators  Sumuer 
and  Seward  made  an  able  report  against  it.  The  bill  passed  by  a  vote 
of  3 1  to  12,  and  was  sent  to  the  House  for  concurrence,  but  was  never 
taken  up  in  that  body. 

The  State  of  Rhode  Island,  through  her  Legislature,  protested  against 
the  extension  of  slavery,  urged  upon  Congress  the  propriety  of  granting 
to  fugitives  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  and  approved  the  course  of  those 
members  of  Congress  who  resisted  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com 
promise.  These  proceedings  were  transmitted  to  Congress  and  presented 
in  the  Senate. 

1B54  .j  At  the  reassembling  of  the  thirty-third  Congress,  after  the  summer 
recess,  it  was  believed  that  the  subject  of  slavery  would  not  disturb 
its  deliberations,  as  the  session  would  continue  only  ninety  days.  But  an 
attempt  to  enlarge  the  powers  of  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  Washington 
City  brought  before  Congress  the  barbarous  practice  of  imprisoning 
freemen  and  selling  them  for  the  fees,  and  an  animated  debate  arose 
upon  it. 

Many  petitions  were  also  presented  for  the  repeal  of  the  fugitive  slave 
act  and  against  permitting  slavery  to  exist  in  any  territory  of  the  United 
States. 

But  the  progress  of  freedom  was  more  strikingly  evinced  by  resolu 
tions  adopted  by  the  State  of  Michigan,  declaring  that  slavery  was  a 
moral,  social  and  political  evil ;  that  its  introduction  into  Kansas  was 
violative  of  a  solemn  compact  and  of  the  Constitution,  and  was  directly 
tending  to  a  disruption  of  the  Union.  They  asserted  that  the  people  of 

*  Mr.  Faulkner,  at  the  time  of  recording  these  incidents  (1863),  was  an  adjutant  general  in  the 
Confederate  army.  .-•,...•',.;, 


MICHIGAN  REGENERATED.  379 

Michigan  were  opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery,  in  favor  of  its  entire 
abolition  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  of  repealing  the  fugitive 
slave  act. 

Michigan  had  from  its  organization  been  a  democratic  State,  and 
General  Cass  had  ever  been  sustained  as  a  faithful  representative  of  their 
principles.  He  had  publicly  declared  that,  when  he  ceased  to  represent 
their  views,  he  would  resign  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  He  had  voted  for 
the  fugitive  act  and  for  the  act  admitting  Kansas  and  Nebraska  to 
establish  slavery  in  those  territories.  He  had  long  been  a  leader  in 
the  democratic  party,  and  at  one  time  its  candidate  for  the  Presidency. 
He  had  grown  old  in  the  public  service,  had  to  the  utmost  of  his  power 
opposed  the  progress  of  that  reformation  to  which  he  was  about  to  fall 
a  victim.  He  now  saw  clearly  the  sentence  of  separation  from  tiiose  who 
had  long  stood  by  him  and  sustained  him  in  public  life,  and  as  the  aged 
statesman,  with  more  than  usual  solemnity,  announced  to  the  Senate 
and  country  the  change  of  public  opinion  which  was  to  consign  him  to 
private  life,  he  exhibited  much  emotion,  and  the  audience  listened  to  him 
with  interest  and  with  sympathy.* 

His  colleague,  Mr.  Stuart,  a  younger  man,  but  a  Democrat,  who  had 
sustained  the  slave  power  with  fidelity,  also  spoke  on  the  subject, 
acknowledging  the  change  of  opinion  that  had  been  wrought  in  his 
State.f 

This  conversion  of  a  strongly  democratic  State,  in  direct  oppo-  [1855 
sition  to  their  Senators,  their  Representatives  and  public  men,  was 
regarded  by  the  reformers  with,  great  pleasure.  It  appeared  ominous 
of  the  approaching  dissolution  of  that  party  ;  for  all  men  of  all  parties 
were  conscious  that,  whenever  the  sceptre  of  power  should  depart  from 
the  slave  States,  the  democratic  organization  would  disband. 

The  Free-soilers,  however,  maintained  the  policy  adopted  by  Mr. 
Adams,  of  adhering  to  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  our  Govern 
ment.  Every  speech,  resolution  and  bill  which  they  presented  had 

*  General  Cass  first  went  to  Michigan  in  1812,  as  a  colonel  commanding  a  regiment  of  twelve 
months'  volunteers  from  Ohio,  and  the  writer,  at  that  time  a  boy  of  sixteen,  served  in  the 
militia  of  that  State.  From  the  close  of  the  war  until  the  breaking  put  of  the  great  rebellion  in 
1861  they  were  personally  friendly,  but  very  decidedly  opposed  in  politics.  On  the  breaking  out 
of  the  rebellion  General  Cass  abandoned  the  democratic  organization,  and  when  in  1S62  the  author 
called  on  him  at  his  residence  in  Detroit,  they  found  themselves  again  in  perfect  political  harmony 
when  the  Government  was  in  danger,  although  separated  during  half  a  century  of  peace. 

t  Michigan  remained  true  to  her  principles.  When  in  1861,  Ohio,  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
voluntarily  surrendered  the  republican  organization,  and  abandoned  the  doctrines  which  had  been 
proclaimed  in  1856,  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  with  a  portion  of  the  Democrats,  Michigan  refused 
to  join  in  that  political  suicide,  but  continued  firmly  adhering  to  the  doctrines  which  her  people 
loved.  And  in  1862,  when  Ohio  and  New  York  were  carried  by  the  democratic  party,  Michigan 
maintained  her  integrity  and  retained  her  faithful  Republicans  in  office. 


380  FURTHER    CORRUPTIONS. 

direct  reference  to  the  doctrines  proclaimed  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence.  They  saw  the  people  had  been  misled  by  public  men,  who 
taught  them  to  believe  it  their  duty  to  maintain  slavery  and  the 
slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  upon  the  high  seas  and  in  our 
Territories,  and  that  Congress  had  authority  and  was  bound  to  legislate 
for  the  capture  and  return  of  fugitive  slaves.  In  short,  the  whole  theory 
of  the  Free-soilers  consisted  in  acting  honestly  towards  the  people, 
towards  themselves  and  their  country  :  And  they  regarded  the  conver 
sion  of  New  Hampshire  and  Michigan  as  important  fruits  of  their  long 
and  arduous  labors.  True,  many  of  their  own  friends  had  fallen  in  the 
frequent  personal  assaults  of  the  slave  power,  and  their  ranks  appeared 
thinned  at  times,  but  they  were  soon  filled  again. 

But  the  arrogance  of  the  slave  power  knew  no  bounds.  Its  advocates 
had  proclaimed  the  compromise  measures  of  1850  to  be  a  final  settle 
ment  of  the  slave  question,  and  many  of  its  statesmen  had  pledged  them 
selves  to  sustain  no  man  for  office  who  should  agitate  the  subject  of 
slavery  :  Yet  the  men  who  thus  deprecated  agitation  brought  for 
ward  and  maintained  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  restriction,  and  now 
demanded  that  Congress  should  add  three  and  a  half  millions  of  dol 
lars  to  the  bonus  granted  to  Texas  by  the  compromise  which  was 
said  to  be  final.  Speculators,  stock-jobbers  and  lobby  members  became 
solicitous  for  a  further  donation  to  Texas.  On  this  subject  ladies  were 
employed :  wives  of  Congressmen  put  forth  their  smiles  and  bland 
ishments  to  induce  members  to  vote  for  this  proposition,  than  which 
nothing  could  be  more  corrupt.  But  leading  statesmen  of  the  whig  and 
democratic  parties  held  that  injustice  and  corruption  were  necessary*  to 
sustain  the  Union,  and  this  bill  soon  became  a  law,  and  the  people  of 
the  free  States  were  again  taxed  to  purchase  the  loyalty  of  Texan  slave 
holders  and  save  a  union  with  that  State  which  had  been  purchased  at 
an  immense  cost  of  blood  and  treasure. 

18551  Near  the  close  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  administration  our  Govern 
ment  entered  into  a  convention  with  that  of  England  for  sub 
mitting  all  disputed  claims  existing  between  the  two  Governments  to 
arbitrators,  and  in  case  of  their  disagreement  an  umpire  was  to  be 
selected.  To  them  the  claim  of  our  Government  for  the  loss  of  slaves 
on  board  the  "  Creole,"  the  "  Enterprise "  and  the  "  Hermora  "  was 
submitted.  The  two  arbitrators  disagreed,  and  the  umpire,  upon  the 
authority  of  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  decided  that  the  British 
Government  was  bound  by  the  laws  of  nations  to  pay  for  the  slaves  lost 
on  board  those  ships.  '  Thus  did  the  resolutions  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  for 
which  Mr.  Webster  nor  any  northern  Whig  dared  vote,  in  the  short 


THE  SLAVE  TRADE  SUPPORTED.  381 

space  of  twelve  years  become  a  part  of  the  international  law  controlling 
the  Governments  of  England  and  the  United  States.  These  two  nations 
now  united  in  sustaining  a  traffic  in  slaves  which  in  1814  they  pledged 
themselves  to  abolish.  Thus  did  the  British  and  American  Governments 
yield  to  the  slave  interest  ;  and  instead  of  executing  justice  upon  the 
piratical  slavedealers,  actually  paid  them  money  as  a  compensation  for 
their  misfortunes  while  speculating  in  the  bodies  of  men  and  women  : 
They  united  in  acknowledging  the  supremacy  of  the  slave  interest,  and 
thus  stimulated  southern  statesmen  to  regard  the  cotton-growing  interest 
of  the  South  as  the  controlling  element  among  civilized  nations. 


FORMATION  OF  THE  "  KNOW  NOTHING-"  PARTY. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

STATE  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES CONTEST  FOR  SPEAKER COMMENCEMENT   OP 

HOSTILITIES  IN  KANSAS OUTRAGE  UPON  THE  PERSON  OF  SENATOR  SUM- 

NER FORMATION  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY ITS  PRINCIPLES — PRESIDENT 

PIERCE'S  LAST  MESSAGE — THE  SLAVE  TRADE  REPUDIATED. 

1855 ,  THE  free-soil  party  was  now  rapidly  increasing  in  numbers  and 
influence.  The  whig  organization  had  disbanded-:  Yet  its  leaders 
had  too  much  pride  of  opinion  to  admit  that  the  anti-slavery  men  were 
right  in  their  policy  or  in  their  construction  of  the  Constitution.  Indeed, 
their  prejudices  were  too  strong  to  permit  them  to  join  any  other  exist 
ing  organization.  They  therefore  instituted  a  new  party  called  the 
"  Know  Nothings  "  or  "  American  party."  Their  leading  policy  was 
the  exclusion  of  foreigners  from  office.  In  fact,  the  real  point  at 
which  they  aimed  was  the  election  of  themselves  to  office.  It  was  a 
secret  society,  known  to  each  other  by  signs,  grips  and  pass-words. 
It  increased  rapidly  in  numbers,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1844  they  elected 
a  large  majority  of  officers  in  all  of  the  free  States.  This  success 
brought  many  to  their  ranks,  and  aspiring  members  appeared  to  think 
that  the  only  road  to  political  preferment  lay  through  the  nocturnal 
Councils  of  this  new  party.* 

The  effect  of  their  success  became  apparent  at  the  assembling  of  the 
thirty-fourth  Congress.  It  had  placed  the  democratic  party  in  a  very 
decided  minority  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  demoralization  of  the  whig  and  democratic  parties  now  stood 
acknowledged  by  the  country.  Their  disruption  was  admitted  to 
have  risen  from  their  devotion  to  slavery.  While  one  of  the 
instrumentalities  for  effecting  their  overthrow  was  the  "  American "  or 
" Know  Nothing n  organization:  And  the  Free-soilers  or  Republicans 
were  placed  in  a  most  critical  position.  Their  difficulty  arose  from  the 
determination  of  aspiring  politicians  to  give  all  influence  into  the  hands 
of  the  organization  which  had  recently  sprung  up. 

Members  of  this  new  party  were  at  the  city  of  Washington  some 
weeks  before  the  assembling  of  Congress,  making  such  political  arrange 
ments  as  they  regarded  necessary  to  secure  the  success  for  the  "  Know 

*  Their  lodges  were  said  to  be  held  in  dark  rooms  and  always  in  the  night. 


MEETING   OF    CONFLICTING  ELEMENTS.  383 

Nothings  :"  But  all  were  conscious  that  neither  they  nor  the  Free-soilers 
could  succeed  except  by  uniting  with  each  other. 

On  Thursday  evening,  before  the  commencement  of  the  session,  notice 
was  given  that  a  meeting  of  members  would  be  held  at  the  "repub 
lican  rooms,  on  Friday,  at  10  o'clock  A.M.,  for  consultation." 

At  this  meeting  only  about  twenty-five  Republicans  assembled.  These 
were  mostly  new  members,  and  appeared  exceedingly  timid.  However, 
there  were  several  "Know  Nothings"  present,  who  assured  the  meet 
ing  that  whatever  the  Free-soilers  or  Republicans  might  do  the  "  Know 
Nothings  "  would  nominate  a  Speaker  at  their  lodge  that  evening  or  the 
next.  To  this  it  was  replied  that  they  could  not  expect  a  nomina 
tion  made  in  secret  lodge  would  be  supported  by  those  not  admitted 
to  participate  in  making  it. 

When  the  Republicans  collected  at  evening  there  were  about  forty 
present,  with  a  number  of  "  Know  Nothings,"  and  a  debate  upon  the 
comparative  merits  of  the  two  organizations  opposed  to  the  common 
enemy  was  fairly  opened  and  occupied  that  evening  and  most  of  the  next 
day.  But  late  in  the  day  a  resolution  was  introduced  pledging  the 
members  to  vote  for  any  man  on  whom  a  majority  of  the  members 
should  unite,  provided  he  stood  pledged  by  his  past  life  or  present 
declarations  so  to  arrange  the  committees  of  the  House  as  to  give 
respectful  answers  to  petitions  concerning  slavery.  This  resolution  was 
adopted  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  more  than  seventy  members.  But 
the  leading  members  of  the  "  Know  Nothings  "  did  not  appear  at  any 
of  the  caucuses.* 

It  was  in  this  unorganized  form  that  members  opposed  to  the  exten 
sion  of  slavery  met  their  associates  on  Monday  in  the  Hall  of  Repre 
sentatives,  to  enter  upon  a  contest  unequalled  in  the  previous  history  of 
our  Government. 

The  House  consisted  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  members — two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  of  whom  answered  to  their  names  at  the  first 
calling  of  the  roll. 

The  first  business  in  order  was  the  election  of  a  Speaker  :  And  the 
ballots  being  counted,  it  was  found  that  William  A.  Richardson,  the  de 
mocratic  candidate,  had  T4  votes  ;  Lewis  D.  Campbell,  of  Ohio,  the 
"  Know  Nothing"  candidate,  had  53  votes  •  Humphrey  Marshall,  of  Ken- 

*  The  resolution  was  drawn  and  introduced  by  the  author,  and  was  in  the  following  form : — 
"  Resolved,  That  we  will  support  no  man  for  the  office  of  Speaker  who  la  not  pledged  to  carry 
out  the  parliamentary  law  by  giving  to  each  proposed  measure  ordered  by  the  House  a  majority  of 
such  special  committee,  and  to  organize  the  standing  committees  of  the  House  by  placing  on  each 
a  majority  of  the  friends  of  freedom  who  shall  be  favorable  to  making  reports  on  all  petitions  com 
mitted  to  them." 


384:  .  THE   STRUGGLE   CONTINUED. 

tucky,  the  southern  Know  Nothing  candidate,  30  votes  ;  Nathaniel  P. 
Banks,  of  Massachusetts,  was  supported  by  those  Free-soilers  or  Republi 
cans  who  refused  to  support  any  man  placed  in  nomination  by  the  Know 
Nothings  ;  and  Hiram  M.  Fuller,  of  Pennsylvania,  Deceived  the  votes  of 
1 7  members  of  the  Know  Nothing  party  who  refused  to  support  any 
other  candidate.  There  were  several  other  ballots  cast  during  the  day, 
with  little  change.  The  voting  continued  on  the  second,  third,  fourth 
and  fifth  days,  without  material  change,  except  that  Mr.  Campbell's  vote 
rose  on  one  occasion  as  high  as  seventy-five. 

After  the  result  of  the  twenty-third  ballot  was  announced,  Mr.  Camp 
bell  withdrew  his  name  from  the  list  of  candidates. 

On  the  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Campbell,  Mr.  Banks'  vote  rose  regularly 
until  the  15th  December,  when  it  reached  10 1. 

In  this  protracted  contest  Mr.  Fuller,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  sustained 
by  about  seventeen  northern  Know  Nothings,  and  Humphrey  Marshall 
by  an  equal  number  of  that  order  from  the  South.  These  gentlemen 
and  their  supporters  frequently  united,  when  their  joint  vote  would  rise 
to  the  number  of  thirty  or  forty.  Other  individuals,  acting  with  the 
Republicans  generally,  manifested  a  strong  disposition  to  defeat  the  can 
didate  for  whom  they  were  voting. 

The  House  continued  to  vote  pretty  steadily  until  the  fifty-ninth  bal 
lot  had  been  cast,  when  Mr.  Hickman,  of  Pennsylvania,  a  Democrat, 
who  had  steadily  voted  with  the  democratic  party,  offered  a  resolution 
declaring  that  after  one  more  ballot,  the  candidate  having  the  lowest 
number  of  votes  should  be  dropped  at  each  voting  until  but  two  candi 
dates  remained,  and  the  one  having  the  highest  number  of  votes  should 
be  declared  elected. 

On  this  resolution  a  debate  arose  which  continued  for  several  days, 
with  occasional  interruptions  for  the  purpose  of  taking  a  vote. 

Mr.  Broome,  of  Philadelphia,  proposed  to  refer  the  questions  which 
separated  the  political  parties  to  the  Supreme  Court.  Little  reply  to 
this  proposition  was  made,  except  by  general  laughter. 

On  the  19th  December,  the  ballot  showed  Mr.  Banks  to  have  106, 
and  Mr.  Richardson  75.  Messrs.  Marshall  and  Fuller,  with  their  adhe 
rents,  continuing  to  vote  by  themselves. 

During  the  debates  the  Republicans  were  constantly  assailed,  and  as 
the  writer  was  the  oldest  member  of  that  party,  he  felt  constrained  to 
vindicate  their  cause.  He  assured  the  Democrats  and  "  Know  Nothings" 
that  the  Republicans  must  soon  come  into  power:  And  when  once  in  power 
they  would  not  permit  southern  members  to  dissolve  the  Union.  This 
seemed  to  arouse  much  angry  feeling.  Mr.  McMullen,  of  Virginia,  re. 


FIRST   PUBLIC   ANNOUNCEMENT   OF   SECESSION.  385 

plied  with  much  spirit,  declaring  that  whenever  a  northern  President  should 
le  elected  the  SOUTH  WOULD  DISSOLVE  THE  UNION.  This  is  believed  to  be 
the  first  distinct  enunciation  in  Congress  that  the  Union  was  to  be  dis 
solved  upon  the  election  of  a  northern  President.  Northern  Democrats 
appeared  mortified  at  the  imprudence  of  Mr.  McMullen. 

Mr.  Banks,  in  a  public  speech  made  some  two  years  previously  in 
Maine,  had  said,  that  if  we  were  to  extend  slavery  or  dissolve  the  Union, 
he  would  say,  "Let  the  Union  slide."  This  saying  was  now  seized 
upon  by  southern  men  as  an  insuperable  objection  to  Mr.  Banks'  elec 
tion  :  While,  at  the  same  time,  Mr.  Brooks,  of  South  Carolina,  assured 
the  House  and  the  country  that  unless  slavery  were  extended  he  desired 
to  see  the  Union  slide. 

Members  appeared  by  common  consent  to  enter  upon  a  general  debate, 
which  was  suspended  on  the  24th  so  long  as  to  take  a  ballot,  which 
showed  no  substantial  change  in  the  parties. 

On  the  27th,  four  ballots  were  taken  with  a  similar  result. 

The  newspapers  showed  that  some  excitement  existed  in  the  country. 
The  Conservatives  were  pained  at  seeing  representatives  from  the  free 
States  so  regardless  of  the  Union  as  to  resist  the  South  with  such  per 
tinacity.  Northern  Democrats  and  many  "  Know  Nothings  "  insisted  that 
the  Union  would  be  dissolved  unless  members  consented  to  elect  a  Demo 
crat  who  was  known  to  sustain  "  southern  interests ;"  a  term  synony 
mous  with  slavery. 

But  the  advocates  of  the  Constitution  replied,  we  will  vote  for  no 
man  who  by  his  past  life  or  present  professions  is  not  pledged  to  "  sus 
tain  the  constitutional  right  of  petition :"  They  had  laid  down  a  rule 
without  reference  to  parties  or  to  individuals.  It  was  so  plain  that  no 
man  dared  deny  its  propriety  :  and  they  declared  that  "  the  constitu 
tional  rights  of  the  States  must  and  should  be  preserved  whether  the 
Union  continued  or  not."  This  doctrine,  so  entirely  at  war  with  the  ruling 
motto  of  the  old  parties,  had  not  been  previously  asserted  ;  nor  did  the 
people  appear  to  comprehend  its  importance.  Indeed,  many  members 
of  Congress  drew  no  distinction  between  maintaining  the  Union  of  all 
the  States,  and  maintaining  the  Constitution  over  so  many  States  as 
were  satisfied  with  the  Constitution. 

But  it  now  became  evident  that  individuals  calling  themselves  "  Know 
Nothings,"  but  acting  with  Republicans,  were  seeking  the  defeat  of  Mr. 
Banks.  Thus,  Mr.  Campbell,  of  Ohio,  who  had  received  seventy-four 
votes  for  Speaker,  presented  a  resolution  declaring  that  Mr.  Orr,  of ' 
South  Carolina,  should  assume  the  chair,  and  act  as  Speaker  until  such 
officer  were  regularly  elected.  Mr.  Campbell  was  said  to  be  in  daily  con- 

25 


I 

386  THE   PBESIDENT   SENDS    MESSAGE    TO   CONGRESS. 

sultation  with  Mr.  Marshall,  of  Kentucky,  who  was  steadily  endeavoring 
to  defeat  the  election  of  Mr.  Banks.  He  had  been  a  Whig,  and  his  avowed 
object  was  to  nuite  all  parties  in  order  to  defeat  the  Democrats  ;  but  with 
out  pledging  those  who  should  defeat  that  party  to  any  particular  prin 
ciple  or  definite  policy.*  But  Mr.  Campbell's  proposition  was  rejected, 
and  by  presenting  it  he  lost  the  confidence  of  most  of  the  members  who 
had  previously  voted  for  him. 

On  the  28th  December  the  balloting  was  resumed,  and  continued 
through  that  and  the  following  day  without  material  change  of  parties, 
and  debate  was  again  renewed.  Southern  members  became  grossly  per 
sonal  in  their  remarks,  constantly  threatening  to  dissolve  the  Union  un 
less  northern  members  ceased  to  press  the  subject  of  slavery  upon  the 
consideration  of  the  people.  Others  attempted  to  ridicule  northern  mem 
bers  for  attempting  to  organize  the  Ho\ise  in  opposition  to  the  demo 
cratic  party. 

These  supercilious  pretensions  served  to  unite  republican  members 
more  strongly,  while  it  placed  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Fuller  and  Mr. 
Marshall  in  no  very  enviable  position. 

Mr.  Pennington,  of  New  Jersey,  was  also  a  candidate,  and  many  excel 
lent  members  desired. to  support  him.  They  had  voted  for  Mr.  Banks  a 
long  time,  and  desired  to  bring  Mr.  Peimington  forward  as  the  candidate 
of  the  Republicans.  But  the  more  experienced  members  united  in  saying 
that  any  change  of  candidates  would  prove  fatal,  unless  the  man  brought 
forward  could  receive  the  entire  vote  then  being  given  to  Mr.  Banks. 
Others  declared  they  would  not  change  under  any  circumstances  ;  and 
the  difficulty  which  the  Republicans  had  to  contend  with  consisted  in 
harmonizing  their  party.  That  was  only  effected  by  adhering  to  the 
principles  adopted  at  the  commencement ;  and  asserting  their  object 
was  not  the  success  of  any  man  or  any  party,  but  to  maintain  the  Con 
stitution. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  sent  his  annual  message  to  the 
Senate  on  the  31st  December,  and  his  private  secretary  appeared  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Hftuse  of  Representatives  and  announced  that  he  had 
brought  with  him  the  annual  message  of  the  President,  to  be  presented 
to  that  body. 

Aware  that  this  was  intended  to  exert  an  influence  against  the  Repub 
licans,  the  author  at  once  objected  to  receiving  it,  as  it  was  an  attempt 
to  introduce  a  new  practice — for  up  to  that  time  no  President  had  ever 
presumed  to  thrust  his  message  upon  an  unorganized  body — and  that  it 

*  At  this  time,  1863,  Mr.  Marshall  js  serying  as  a  brigadier-general  in  the  Confederate  army,  and 
Mr.  Campbell  is  serving  as  a  colonel  in  the  army  of  the  United  States. 


PREPARATIONS  FOE  A  PROLONGED  CONTEST.        387 

could  not  constitutionally  be  received  by  members  until  a  Speaker  were 
elected.  But  a  majority  voted  to  receive  it.  The  next  attempt  was  to 
read  it  to  the  House  ;  but  it  was  again  objected  that  it  was  not  ad 
dressed  to  members  in  their  disorganized  condition,  but  was  addressed 
to  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  which  had  not  then  been 
organized.  This  objection  was  sustained,  and  although  they  had  re 
ceived  the  message,  they  refused  to  read  it. 

The  new  year  found  the  House  unorganized,  with  the  Presi- 
dent's  message  lying  upon  the  Clerk's  desk  unopened  and  unread. 
One  ballot  was  taken.  A  motion  was  next  made  to  take  up  and  read  the 
President's  message  ;  but,  after  debate,  the  motion  was  laid  on  the 
table. 

Members  now  began  to  make  arrangements  for  continuing  the  contest 
indefinitely.  Most  of  them  had  expected  to  draw  their  mileage  to  de 
fray  their  current  expenses  ;  but  being  unable  to  do  that  until  the  House 
were  organized,  found  themselves  out  of  funds.  In  many  republican 
districts  the  people  met  in  public  conventions  and -passed  resolutions  ap 
proving  the  action  of  their  Representatives,  made  provisions  for  their 
members  to  draw  on  their  local  banks  for  such  funds  as  they  deemed 
necessary  for  defraying  expenses  at  Washington.  To  meet  these  ex 
penses,  some  State  Legislatures  made  appropriations  from  their  State 
funds.* 

Soon  as  the  republican  party  became  consolidated,  its  members  became 
more  confident.  Those  of  greatest  experience  assured  their  friends  that 
as  the  President,  officers  of  government,  and  the  army  and  navy  must 
go  without  pay  until  the  House  should  be  organized,  the  pressure  would 
soon  be  so  great  upon  the  democratic  party  that  they,  would  be  com 
pelled  to  submit  to  the  election  of  a  republican  Speaker. 

Some  State  Legislatures  passed  resolutions  sustaining  the  action  of 
their  Representatives,  declaring  the  issue  involved  to  be  the  extension  or 
non-extension  of  slavery.  Indeed,  the  entire  debate  turned  upon  ques 
tions  touching  that  institution.  The  several  candidates  were  interro 
gated  upon  the  subject  of  slavery  ;  but  Mr.  Banks  was  the  only  one 
who  avowed  his  concurrence  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence. 

*  Mr.  Richardson,  the  democratic  candidate  for  Speaker,  had  been  acquainted  with  the  writer 
for  some  years,  and,  coming  to  his  seat,  suggested  the  absolute  necessity  of  some  compromise. 
The  writer  spoke  with  some  degree  of  determination,  declaring  that  he  hated  the  very  torm  com 
promise,  as  it  always  meant  some  further  surrender  of  northern  rights  and  interests.  "But," 
said  Mr.  Richardson,  "how  long  do  you  expect  to  keep  up  this  contest?"  "  UnHl  the  1th 
March,  1857,"  said  the  writer.  Richardson  appeared  astonished,  and  saying—"  You  be  d — d  /" 
walked  away. 


S88  RESOLUTION   TO   CLOSE   THE   STRUGGLE. 

The  debate  and  ballotings  continued  without  any  material  change  or 
incident  until  the  25th  January,  when  the  President  sent  another  mes 
sage  having  relation  to  public  affairs  in  Kansas.  The  members  generally 
feeling  some  curiosity  to  hear  what  the  President  had  to  say  in  relation 
to  that  territory,  ordered  the  message  read,  and  then  very  quietly  re 
sumed  the  discussion. 

On  the  29th  January  several  propositions  were  made  for  an  immediate 
organization.  They  were  rejected,  but  by  such  small  majorities  as  to 
indicate  an  organization  at  no  very  distant  period  ;  and  the  He-publicans 
now  felt  one,  and  only  one  doubt  in  regard  to  success.  The  southern 
"  Know  Nothings"  had  been  Whigs,  and  bitterly  hated  the  Democrats  ; 
and  the  question  now  presented  was,  whether  they  would  unite  with  their 
old  enemies  rather  than  see  a  republican  Speaker  elected. 

On  the  3d  February  a  resolution  was  presented,  declaring  that  three 
more  ballots  should  be  taken,  and  if  no  election  were  had,  the  candidate 
having  the  highest  number  of  votes  on  the  4th  ballot  should  be  declared 
Speaker.  Soon  after  this  vote  was  announced  the  House  adjourned. 
Members  now  felt  that  the  contest  was  drawing  to  a  close. 

The  next  morning,  reports  from  members  showed  that  every  Repub 
lican  stood  firm,  and  that  the  "  Know  Nothings  "  had  pledged  themselves 
to  vote  only  for  their  candidate  ;  the  assurance  of  success  appeared  to 
pervade  every  mind.  All  were  solemn,  and  appeared  conscious  that  the 
action  of  that  day  was  to  tell  upon  our  national  character  in  coming  time. 

Mr.  Aiken,  of  South  Carolina,  was  announced  as  the  democratic  can 
didate.  And  the  first  ballot,  under  the  resolution,  showed  little  change 
of  parties.  Banks  received  102  votes  ;  Aiken,  92  ;  Fuller,  13  ;  Camp 
bell,  4  ;  and  Wells,  2. 

By  this  time  the  spacious  galleries  were  filled  with  eager  spectators, 
the  lobbies  and  passages  were  crowded  by  men  and  ladies  anxious  for 
the  result.  The  next  ballot  was  taken  without  any  change  of  parties. 
A  motion  was  made  to  adjourn,  but  it  was  voted  down  by  159  to  52. 
Mr.  Fuller  announced  that  he  was  no  longer  a  candidate.  The  result 
now  appeared  to  be  anticipated  by  all,  and  as  the  Clerk  commenced  call 
ing  the  roll  of  members  for  the  final  vote,  there  appeared  to  be  the  most 
intense  interest  felt  on  all  sides  of  the  House.  As  Mr.  Barclay's  name 
was  called,  he  arose  and  declared  that  he  wanted  further  information  as 
to  Mr.  Aikin's  views  in  regard  to  the  "  American,  or  Know  Nothing 
organization."  The  inquiry  gave  rise  to  a  colloquial  debate,  which 
lasted  for  an  hour,  detracting  somewhat  from  the  dignity  of  the  occasion. 
Confusion  now  reigned  in  various  parts  of  the  hall  ;  crimination  and  re 
crimination  was  heard  ;  and  members  were  seen  standing  up  talking  to 


THE   FINAL   RESULT.  389 

eacli  other  in*  great  excitement  as  the  Clerk  proceeded  in  calling  the  roll. 
Various  propositions  were  suggested,  but  the  Clerk  declaring  all  motions 
out  of  order,  proceeded  to  call  the  names  and  record  the  votes  of  all 
the  members.  When  the  roll  had  been  called  through,  there  was  so 
much  confusion  that  it  was  difficult  for  any  one  to  be  heard.  But  the 
clerks  and  tellers  proceeded  in  their  duties,  and  when  the  count  was 
completed,  Mr.  Benson,  of  Maine — one  of  the  tellers — rose,  and  in  a  loud 
voice  proclaimed  that  "  On  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-third  ballot 
Nathaniel  P.  Banks  had  received  one,  hundred  and  three,  votes;  Mr. 
Aikin  had  received  one  hundred  votes  ;  Mr.  Fuller  had  received  six  votes  ; 
and  Mr.  Campbell  had  received  four  voles.  That  Mr.  Banks  having 
received  the  highest  number  of  votes  on  this  ballot,  was  declared  duly  elected 
Speaker  of  the  thirty-fourth  Congress" 

At  this  announcement  the  spectators  in  the  galleries  broke  forth  in 
wild  excitement.  Cheer  after  cheer  went  up,  amid  the  waving  of  hand 
kerchiefs  and  demonstrations  of  unrestrained  exultation,  which  were  re 
sponded  to  by  hisses  from  the  Administration  side  of  the  House. 

Some  feeble  opposition  was  made  to  Mr.  Banks  assuming  the  duties 
of  the  chair,  when  a  resolution  declaring  him  Speaker  was  offered  and 
adopted  by  a  large  majority.  This  was  in  accordance  with  the  prece 
dent  established  in  1849,  and  rendered  the  election  constitutional. 

When  this  resolution  had  been  adopted,  the  Clerk,  Mr.  Forney,  a 
Democrat  of  Philadelphia,  called  on  Mr.  Aikin,  of  South  Carolina,  Mr. 
Fuller,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  Campbell,  of  Ohio,  to  conduct  the 
Speaker  to  the  chair.  This  being  done — 

Mr.  Banks  delivered  an  appropriate  address,  and  the  Clerk  called  on 
the  writer,  being  the  oldest  member  of  the  House,  to  administer  the 
oath  of  office.  He  walked  into  the  open  area  in  front  of  the  Speaker's 
chair,  and,  taking  a  position  some  thirty  feet  from  him,  desired  that 
officer  to  raise  his  right  hand,  which  he  did,  and  the  oath  was  admin 
istered  in  a  loud  voice,  according  to  the  form  practised  in  New  England 
from  the  time  of  the  Pilgrims. 

Thus  closed  this  remarkable  conflict,  after  a  struggle  of  nine  weeks. 
In  this  contest  the  most  discordant  elements  were  brought  to  the  support 
of  principle,  and  the  power  of  truth  in  political  contests  was  very  fully 
and  beautifully  illustrated.* 

*  When  the  writer,  possessing  a  large  physical  frame  and  whitened  hair,  walked  out  to  the  front 
of  the  Speaker  to  administer  the  oath,  the  audience  at  once  recognized  him  as  having  labored  long 
and  steadily  in  the  cause  of  human  freedom,  and  another  cheer  was  given  for  this  result  of  his  labors. 

This  form  of  administering  the  oath  had  never  been  adopted  on  any  former  occasion,  and  it  was 
regarded  with  so  much  interest  that  the  papers  of  the  next  morning  described  the  incident,  and 
gave  a  verbatim  report  of  the  language  used  on  the  occasion. 


390  MILITAEY   INVASION    OF    KANSAS. 

The  effect  of  this  victory  was  felt  through  the  country.  Men  now 
saw  the  moral  influence  which  a  few  individuals  devoted  to  truth 
and  freedom  had  been  able  to  exert  upon  Congress.  Sixteen  years 
before  this  occurrence  Mr.  Adams  and  the  author  of  these  sketches 
were  the  only  representatives  in  Congress  of  the  doctrines  now  sup 
ported  by  a  majority  of  the  House. 

The  slaveholders  and  those  who  sympathized  with  them  appeared  to 
realize  that  political  power  was  gradually  escaping  from  their  grasp,  and 
that  the  day  was  rapidly  approaching  when  the  people  would  resume 
control  of  the  Government  and  wield  it  for  their  own  benefit. 

Slavery  and  freedom  had  met  in  open  conflict,  and  truth  had  again 
prevailed.  From  the  hour  that  slavery  had  been  rejected  from  Cali 
fornia,  defeat  and  disaster  had  attended  the  advocates  of  the  institution. 

On  Monday,  5th  February,  the  House  proceeded  to  read  the  Presi 
dent's  message,  and  having  completed  its  organization,  commenced  the 
ordinary  business  of  legislation. 

But  now  the  difficulties  in  Kansas  attracted  public  attention.  Many 
emigrants  from  New  England  had  settled  in  that  territory  and  constituted 
almost  its  entire  resident  population.  The  people  of  Missouri  and  the 
other  slave  States  had  not  been  idle.  They  could  not  send  emigrants  to 
cultivate  its  soil,  but  they  prepared  to  enter  the  territory  with  an  armed 
force  and  to  establish  the  institution  of  slavery  by  military  power. 

Accordingly,  on  the  day  appointed  by  the  Governor  for  electing  mem 
bers  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  on  the  previous  day,  citizens  from 
Missouri  with  arms  and  banners  entered  the  territory,  took  possession 
of  the  ballot-boxes,  drove  the  resident  citizens  from  the  polls,  and  pro 
claimed  their  companions  members  of  the  Legislature.  These  men 
professing  to  have  been  elected,  assembled  and  enacted  a  slave  code 
for  Kansas,  which  in  point  of  barbarity  had  seldom  been  equalled  since 
the  darker  ages  had  passed  away. 

The  resident  citizens  were  unwilling  to  recognize  either  the  legislators 
or  the  slave-sustaining  enactments  which  they  had  passed. 

The  people  of  the  free  States  in  the  meantime  sent  arms  and 
ammunition  to  their  friends  in  Kansas  to  enable  them  to  protect  them 
selves  against  the  invaders,  who  were  now  endeavoring  to  establish 
slavery  by  force  of  arms.  The  citizens  of  slave  States  also  sent  men 
and  arms  to  reenforce  the  harbingers  of  slavery. 

Military  parades,  drills,  and  camp  equipage  became  common.  Skir 
mishes  were  fought,  victories  were  won  and  lost,  men  were  slain, 
prisoners  were  captured,  and  civil  war  with  all  its  ordinary  incidents  ex 
isted  in  that  territory.  The  President  espoused  the  cause  of  the  slave- 


THE   PRESIDENT    SUSTAINS   THE   INSURGENTS.  391 

holders,  and  sent  troops  of  the  United  States  to  maintain  the  curse  of 
human  bondage  and  enforce  the  worse  than  Draconian  code  enacted  by 
adherents  of  slavery  from  slave  States. 

The  Senate  called  on  the  President  by  resolution  to  communicate  to 
Congress  such  information  as  he  might  possess  in  relation  to  the  difficul 
ties  existing  in  Kansas.  He  replied  by  message  on  the  14th  February, 
and  in  it  he  assailed  the  societies  and  men  of  the  free  States  who  had 
assisted  emigrants  to  the  territory  as  "promoters  of  civil  war/7  and 
mildly  censured  the  invaders  who  had  entered  the  territory  with  an  armed 
force  and  usurped  the  government ;  but  in  the  most  emphatic  terms 
denounced  as  "  insurgents  "  those  who  refused  to  obey  the  enactments 
of  their  invaders.  He  referred  to  those  who  favored  the  formation  of  a 
free  State,  and  to  those  who  sympathized  with  them,  as  "  enemies  of  the 
Government "  and  "  violators  of  the  Constitution,"  and  those  who  op 
posed  the  extension  of  slavery  he  characterized  as  "  agitators  seeking 
to  overthrow  the  Government  and  institutions  of  the  country." 

This  extraordinary  state  paper  did  not  fail  to  call  forth  the  deep 
indignation  of  those  who  were  endeavoring  to  maintain  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  free  as  well  as  of  the  slave  States.  They  spoke  of  the 
President  as  the  mere  instrument  of  the  slave  power,  seeking  southern 
favor  by  treason  to  the  Constitution  and  to  freedom.  They  placed  upon 
the  record  of  debates  the  fact  that  he  had  sent  the  army  of  the  United 
States  to  aid  the  invaders,  and  sustain  the  usurpers  of  the  govern 
ment  in  Kansas. 

In  the  Senate,  Messrs.  Hale,  Sumner,  Seward,  Wilson,  Hamlin,  Fes- 
senden,  Collamer,  Foote  and  Wade,  were  outspoken  and  bold  in  exposing 
the  crimes  committed  in  Kansas  by  the  supporters  of  slavery.  The 
transactions  in  that  territory,  the  attempts  of  the  Executive  and  his 
friends  to  sustain  them,  afforded  an  inexhaustible  theme  for  criticism  ; 
and  these  exposures  were  the  more  unwelcome  to  the  slave  power  in  conse 
quence  of  the  approaching  Presidential  election,  which  was  to  take  place 
before  the  next  meeting  of  Congress.  But  the  Senate  debated  the 
message  of  the  President  and  the  report  of  the  committee  to  whom  it 
was  referred,  as  well  as  the  bill  admitting  Kansas  to  the  Federal  Union 
as  a  State.  These  subjects  were  discussed  until  the  8th  July,  when  the 
Senate  passed  the  bill  authorizing  the  people  of  Kansas  "  to  form  a 
State  constitution  and  government." 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  the  message  of  the  President  was 
examined  with  less  severity.  Members  of  that  body  appeared  to  regard 
the  association  of  the  President  with  the  Vice-President,  Atchison  and 
the  border  ruffians  of  Missouri,  to  be  so  obvious  as  to  deprive  him  of 


THE   TKESIDENT   AND   HOUSE   AT   ISSUE. 
*    '  •         » 

that  influence  which  could  alone  justify  them  in  commenting  upon  his 
conduct. 

On  the  2Yth  February,  Mr.  Grow,  of  Pennsylvania,  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Territories,  in  the  House  reported  a  bill  declaring  most 
of  the  acts  passed  by  the  usurpers  of  Kansas  -void  and  securing  the  peo 
ple  of  that  territory  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  rights. 

But  as  there  appeared  to  be  doubts  thrown  around  many  important 
facts  connected  with  Kansas,  resolutions  were  introduced  authorizing  the 
Speaker  to  appoint  a  committee  of  three  members,  who  should  visit  the 
territory,  take  testimony,  and  report  to  the  House  facts  concerning  the 
invasion,  the  election,  and  action  of  the  self-styled  Legislature. 

This  so-called  Legislature  of  Kansas  passed  a  pretended  law  profes 
sing  to  authorize  the  people  to  elect  a  delegate  to  Congress,  and  a  man 
holding  a  certificate  of  election  under  these  enactments,  appeared  and 
demanded  admission  ;  but  after  a  full  examination  the  House  declared 
that  the  self-styled  legislators  had  no  authority,  that  their  enactments 
were  void,  and  that  the  delegate  had  no  claim  to  a  seat  in  that  body. 
Thus  did  the  House  of  Representatives  spurn  the  enactments  which  the 
President  declared  valid. 

The  report  of  the  committee  sent  to  Kansas  to  ascertain  facts  appear 
ed  to  set  all  cavil  at  rest ;  and  the  free-State  men  of  the  territory  and 
their  advocates  in  Congress  and  in  the  States  determined  to  encounter 
the  horrors  of  civil  war  rather  than  submit  to  this  attempt  to  extend 
slavery  over  Kansas  by  force  of  arms. 

But  a  difficulty  arose  in  consequence  of  the  unwillingness  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Ways  and  Means  to  exercise  the  legitimate  functions  which 
the  House  possessed.  In  reporting  the  army  appropriations,  they  placed 
the  whole  amount  in  the  hands  of  the  President,  without  restriction, 
instead  of  declaring  that  no  part  of  it  should  be  used  to  transport 
troops  to  Kansas  or  to  sustain  them  in  that  territory.  Thus  did  that 
committee  propose  to  give  the  President  means  to  carry  on  the  civil 
war. 

Older  members  of  the  House  were  dissatisfied  with  this  action  of  the 
committee,  and  when  the  bill  came  under  debate,  Mr.  Campbell,  of  Ohio, 
chairman,  on  being  publicly  interrogated,  reluctantly  declared  that  he 
would  not  look  at  sectional  difficulties  while  legislating  for  the  country. 
But  an  amendment  was  proposed  limiting  the  appropriati6n  so  as  to  re 
strict  the  President  from  using  the  army  for  the  subjugation  of  Kansas. 
This  amendment  was  adopted,  and  the  bill  passed  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  ;  but  the  Senate  disagreed  to  this  restriction,  and  the  bill  was 
finally  lost  on  this  disagreement. 


STJMNEK'S  REPLY  TO  BUTLEK.  393 

• 

The  feeling  of  hostility  which  had  grown  up  on  the  part  of  the 
South  towards  the  North,  was  manifested  by  the  dictatorial  bearing 
of  southern  members.  It  had  been  .confirmed  and  strengthened  by 
yielding  up  rights  and  interests  on  the  part  of  northern  members 
until  slaveholding  Representatives  regarded  themselves  as  the  superiors 
of  those  from  the  free  States.  They  found  it  impossible  to  maintain 
an  intellectual-  superiority  whenever  northern  members  boldly  con 
fronted  them  ;  yet  Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  a  man  usually  of, 
gentle  demeanor,  was  quite  impatient  of  opposition  upon  questions 
touching  slavery.  Whenever  the  institution  came  under  debate  he 
assumed  a  dictatorial  tone,  spoke  disrespectfully  of  his  opponents,  and 
on  matters  relating  to  Kansas  he  became  offensive  to  those  who 
opposed  him. 

'  Mr.  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts,  was  erudite  and  always  gentlemanly. 
He  had  the  advantages  of  a  fine  education,  improved  by  travel  in 
foreign  countries.  A  man  of  pure  morals,  proud  of  the  noble  State  of 
which  he  was  a  Representative,  and  devoted  to  the  cause  of  progress  and 
human  elevation  ;  he  devoted  all  his  energies  to  the  discharge  of  official 
duty. 

^  On  the  20th  May,  he  delivered  a  speech  on  the  bill  authorizing  the 
people  of  Kansas  to  form  a  constitution  and  State  government,  a  part 
of  which  was  in  reply  to  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Butler  on  the  same  subject. 
No  one  doubted,  nor  did  Mr.  Sumner  deny,  that  he  intended  such  a 
rebuke  to  Mr.  Butler  as  would  admonish  that  gentleman  of  the  propriety 
of  observing  a  respectful  courtesy  towards  his  opponents  ;  yet  no  friend 
of  ]y>.  Butler  or  of  slavery  charged  Mr.  Sumner  with  overstepping 
the  bounds  of  order,  or  of  strict  parliamentary  rules  in  his  remarks  ;  but 
they  were  forcible,  indeed  withering  towards  Mr.  Butler,  who  had  ren 
dered  himself  subject  to  the  severest  criticism.  The  force  of  his  logic  and 
the  obvious  justice  of  his  allusions  were  wounding  to  the  pride  of  South 
Carolina  :  her  Representatives  were  said  to  have  held  a  consultation  on 
the  subject.  Their  Senator  and  State  had  been  placed  in  an  unenviable 
position,  and  the  question  appeared  to  be  how  they  were  to  wipe  out  the 
stain  ? 

Unfortunately,  they  believed  in  the  practice  and  habits  of  the  South, 
and  instead  of  maintaining  the  intellectual  conflict,  they  had  recourse  to 
physical  violence. 

Mr.  Brooks,  attended  by  Mr.  Keitt,  both  armed,  entered  the  Senate 
chamber  after  the  adjournment  of  the  22d  May.  Mr.  Sumner  remained 
at  his  desk  engaged  in  writing,  with  a  few  other  Senators  who  were  also 
engaged  at  their  desks,  as  was  usual.  Brooks  approached  Mr.  Suinuer 


394:  ATTEMPTED   ASSASSINATION   IN   THE    SENATE. 

in  front,  with  a  heavy  cane  in  his  hand,  saying  :  "I  have  read  your 
speech  j  it  is  a  libel  on  my  State  and  Mr.  Butler,  who  is  a  relative  of 
mine,"  at  the  same  instant  striking  him.  Sumner  attempted  to  rise ; 
a  second  blow,  falling  with  full  force,  prostrated  him,  at  the  same  time 
depriving  him  of  consciousness.  As  he  lay  paralyzed  and  apparently 
lifeless,  Brooks  proceeded  to  inflict  further  blows,  while  Keitt,  with  a 
pistol  in  one  hand  and  a  cane  in  the  other,  ordered  the  spectators  to 
stand  back.  Mr.  Crittenden,  of  the  Senate,  and  Mr.  Murray,  of  the 
House,  being  present,  seized  Brooks  and  removed  him  ;  while  Mr. 
Morgan,  of  the  House,  protected  the  apparently  lifeless  body  of  Sumner 
from  further  outrage. 

Perhaps  Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina  were  never  more  faithfully 
represented  than  by  Mr.  Sumner  and  Mr.  Brooks.  .The  one  was  intelli 
gent,  gentlemanly  and  kind,  holding  that  all  contests  were  to  be  decided 
by  reason,  by  the  judgment  and  conscience  ;  the  other  holding  that 
violence,  physical  force,  the  duella,  or  battle-field,  was  the  proper  resort 
of  gentlemen  and  of  nations.  The  ideas  of  the  one-  were  refined  and 
pure  ;  the  other  adhered  to  the  barbarism  of  former  ages.  Indeed,  this 
distinction  was  equally  well  defined  between  the  people  of  the  free  and 
slave  States.  •* 

On  the  morning  following  this  assault,  Mr.  Wilson  called  the  attention 
of  the  Senate  to  the  outrage  which  had  been  perpetrated  upon  the  sena 
torial  sanctity  of  that  body. 

Mr.  Seward  moved  a  resolution  of  inquiry  and  the  appointment  of  a 
committee.  The  resolution  was  adopted,  but  every  member  of  the 
committee,  five  in  number,  were  Democrats  ;  no  Senator  opposed  to*  the 
Administration  was  appointed.  This  outrage  upon  parliamentary  usage 
was  as  great  as  the  personal  assault  on  Mr.  Sumner.  But  the  facts  were 
so  well  known  that  the  committee  could  neither  misunderstand  nor  mis 
represent  them,  although  they  referred  to  the  speech  of  Mr.  Sumner  as 
the  cause  of  the  attack.  As  Mr.  Brooks  was  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  a  copy  of  the  report  was  transmitted  to  that  body 
for  its  action. 

But  before  this  report  was  made  to  the  Senate,  Mr.  Campbell,  of 
Ohio,  offered  to  the  House  of  Representatives  resolutions  of  inquiry  in 
relation  to  this  violation  of  the  privileges  of  the  Senate  by  a  member  of 
the  House.  The  consideration  of  these  resolutions  was  opposed  by  Mr. 
Clingman  and  Mr.  Craig,  of  North  Carolina  ;  Mr.  Smith  and  Mr.  Letcher, 
of  Virginia.  The  Speaker,  however,  decided  that  the  resolutions  were 
privileged  under  parliamentary  law,  .and  entitled  to  immediate  considera 
tion.  From  this  decision  Mr.  Clingman  appealed  ;  and  every  member 


BROOKS  EXPELLED  FEOM  THE  HOUSE.  395 

from  the  slave  States  voted  against  the  decision,  together  with  Messrs. 
Day,  of  Ohio  ;  English,  of  Indiana  ;  Florence,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Fuller, 
of  Maine  ;  Marshall,  of  Illinois  ;  Miller,  of  Indiana,  and  Valk,  of  New 
York.  But  the  Speaker  was  sustained  by  a  large  majority,  and  the 
committee  was  appointed,  and  on  the  2d  June  made  a  full  report  of 
facts,  accompanied  by  a  resolution  expelling  Mr.  Brooks  from  the 
House.  This  report  was,  however,  signed  by  Messrs.  Campbell,  Pen- 
nington  and  Spinner ;  while  Messrs.  Cobb  and  Greenwood,  belonging 
to  the  democratic  party,  made  an  elaborate  report,  concluding  with 
the  resolution  that  the  House  of  Representatives  had  no  jurisdiction  of 
the  case. 

On  the  10th  June,  resolutions  from  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts 
were  presented,  stating  the  rights  of»  each  State  to  be  represented  in  the 
Senate,  and  the  sanctity  of  the  persons  of  Senators  while  thus  representing 
their  States,  and  in  dignified  language  deprecating  the  late  outrage 
upon  one  of  her  Senators. 

Similar  resolutions  were  received  from  the  Legislatures  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut,  they  being  in  session  at  the  time. 

Mr.  Sumner  being  confined  by  his  wounds,  *  Mr.  Butler  replied  to 
the  speech  of  Mr.  Sumner.  To  this  Mr.  Wilson,  while  his  colleague 
was  yet  prostrated,  rejoined  in  an  able  manner.  Mr.  Evans,  of 
South  Carolina,  also  spoke  upon  the  subject.  Mr.  Douglas,  of  Illinois, 
spoke  only  in  excuse  of  himself  for  not  interfering  at  the  time  of  the 
assault,  as  his  object  might  have  been  misconstrued.  Mr.  Slidell,  of 
Louisiana,  declared  that  he  heard  the  blows,  but  felt  no  interest  in  the 
matter.  Mr.  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  openly  justified  the  assault.  To  these 
remarks  Mr.  Wade,  of  Ohio,  responded  with  earnestness,  declaring  the 
assault  "  assassirilike  and  cowardly."* 

On  the  9th  July,  the  House  proceeded  to  the  consideration  of  the 
resolutions  and  report  of  the  committee  expelling  Mr.  Brooks.  Mr. 
Cliugman,  of  North  Carolina,  argued  that  the  attack  was  a  mere  assault 
and  battery,  of  which  the  House  could  take  no  jurisdiction.  Mr.  Bingham, 
of  Ohio,  replied  with  great  force  ;  and  after  further  debate  the  vote  was 
taken  upon  expelling  Brooks,  and  stood  121  in  the  affirmative  and 
95  in  the  negative.  All  the  members  from  the  slave  States,  assisted  by 

*  As  Mr.  Toombs  had  justified  the  assault  which  Mr.  Wade  pronounced  cowardly,  members 
expected  that  Toombs  would  challenge  him  ;  but  he  did  not. 

Mr.  Brooks  challenged  Senator  Wilson,  who  replied  that  the  moral  feeling  of  his  State  would  not 
justify  him  in  meeting  an  opponent  in  a  duel ;  but  the  people  expected  him  to  defend  himself. 
Tbis  he  expected  would  call  out  an  attack  upon  the  street,  and  he  prepared  for  it.  Indeed,  the 
feeling  now  ran  so  high  that  several  Senators  and  Representatives  carried  arms  upon  their  persona 
wherever  they  went. 


396  FUNDS   FOK   THE   SUBJUGATION   OF   KANSAS. 

Messrs.  Florence,  Cadwallader  and  J.  Glancy  Jones,  of  Pennsylvania  ; 
Denver,  of  California  ;  English,  of  Indiana,  and  Marshall,  of  Illinois, 
voted  in  the  negative  ;  while  all  the  other  members  from  the  free  States 
voted  in  the  affirmative. 

There  being  less  than  two-thirds  in  the  affirmative,  the  resolutions 
were  lost.  After  the  vote  was  declared,  Mr.  Brooks  addressed  the 
House,  by  common  consent,  for  an  hour,  endeavoring  to  justify  his  bar 
barous  violence  in  consequence  of  Mr.  Sumner's  speech.  When  he  closed 
he  declared  that  he  had  already  sent  his  resignation  to  the  Governor  of 
to  State. 

On  the  following^  day  the  House  proceeded  to  consider  another  reso 
lution  reported  by  the  committee,  for  expelling  Mr.  Keitt  for  the  part  he 
had  borne  in  the  affair,  which  being  so  amended  as  to  express  the  dis 
approbation  of  the  House,  was  adopted  by  a  large  majority,  and  that 
gentleman  thereupon  resigned  his  seat. 

Thus  ended  the  public  debate  concerning  a  transaction  which  greatly 
disparaged  our  Government  with  foreign  nations,  involving  the  people  «f 
the  free  States  in  that  low  degree  of  civilization  which  only  belonged 
to  the  slaveholding  portion  of  the  nation  ;  but  the  recollection  of 
those  scenes  will  long  remain  deeply  impressed  upon  the  memory  of 
those  who  witnessed  them. 

The  general  indignation  of  the  northern  people  became  intensified 
when  it  was  found  that  Mr.  Sumner  continued  unable  to  attend  his 
duties  in  the  Senate.  He  was  subjected  to  painful  operations  at  the 
hands  of  the  most  eminent  medical  men  of  Europe.  He  was. temporarily 
paralyzed,  and  suffered  exceedingly  for  nearly  two  years  before  he  was 
able  to  resume  his  official  duties. 

The  natural  result  of  these  outrages  was  the  formation  of  political 
parties  upon  the  question  of  slavery  and  freedom.  Indeed,  the  necessity 
for  such  political  organization  was  so  obvious  that  few  persons  appeared 
to  doubt  its  propriety,  when  the  first  session  of  the  thirty-fourth  Con 
gress  adjourned. 

But  that  body  having  failed  to  pass  any  bill  making  appropri 
ations  for  the  army,  the  President  called  the  members  together  by  pro 
clamation,  for  an  extra  session  ;  and  a  sufficient  number  of  northern 
members  now  united  with  the  Committee  of  the  House  to  pass  a  bill 
giving  the  President  both  funds  and  army  for  the  subjugation  of  Kansas, 
and  the  bill'm  that  form  became  a  law. 

Long  before  the  adjournment,  the  people  began  to  move  in  favor 
of  a  general  political  organization  preparatory  to  the  coming  presi 
dential  canvass.  The  "  Americans  "  or  "  Know  Nothings/'  were  to 


FORMATION    OF   THE   REPUBLICAN   PARTY.  397 

meet  at  Philadelphia,  and  the  leaders  of  "the  free-soil  party  called  a 
meeting  of  their  friends  to  be  held  in  Pittsburg  at  the  same  time.  The 
Americans  were  unable  to  unite  upon  any  platform  in  regard  to  slavery  ; 
and  the  Free-soilers,  after  consideration,  passed  resolutions  declaring 
their  principles  and  expressing  a  desire  that  all  who  held  those  doctrines 
would  meet  in  national  convention  for  the  nomination  of  candidates  for 
President  and  Yice-President. 

Soon  after  a  general  call  for  a  convention  appeared,  inviting  "  all  who 
were  opposed  to  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  to  the  exten 
sion  of  slavery,  in  favor  of  admitting  Kansas  as  a  free  State,  and  in 
favor  of  restoring  the  Government  to  the  principles  avowed  by  Washing 
ton  and  Jefferson,  to  meet  at  Philadelphia" 

This  restoration  of  the  Government  to  the  doctrines  of  our  revolu 
tionary  fathers,  had  constituted  the  theme  of  contemplation  by  Mr. 
Adams  and  his  associates  since  1837.  No  reformation  short  of  adopting 
those  doctrines  was  regarded  by  them  as  of  any  importance.  And  this 
catt.  was  intended  to  carry  out  that  object. 

The  convention,  in  point  of  numbers  and  of  moral  character,  was 
equal  to  any  that  had  ever  met  in  the  United  States. 

At  Philadelphia,  on  the  18th  June,  A.D.  1856,  the  Republican 
party  was  formed  upon  the  principles  explicitly  enunciated  in  the  reso 
lutions  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy  : 

"  Resolved,  That,  the  maintenance  of  the  principles  promulgated  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  embodied  in  the  Federal  Consti 
tution  are  essential  to  the  preservation  of  our  republican  institutions ; 
and  the  Federal  Constitution,  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the  union  of 
the  States  shall  be  preserved. 

"  Resolved,  That  with  our  republican  fathers,  we  hold  to  the  self- 
evident  truth,  that  all  men  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  equal 
and  inalienable  rights  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
That  the  primary  object  and  ulterior  design  of  instituting  our  Federal 
Government  was  to  secure  the  enjoyment  of  these  rights  to  all  persons 
under  its  exclusive  jurisdiction.  That,  as  our  republican  fathers,  when 
they  had  abolished  slavery  in  all  our  national  territory,  ordained  by  the 
Constitution  that  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty  or  properly 
without  due  process  of  law,  it  becomes  our  duty  to  maintain  this  provision 
agniust  all  attempts  to  violate  it  ;  and  to  prevent  the  establishment  of 
slavery  in  any  territory  of  the  United  States  by  positive  legislation, 
prohibiting  its  existence  therein :  And  we  deny  the  constitutional 
authority  of  Congre-ss,  of  a  territorial  legislature,  or  of  any  individual 
or  association  of  individuals  to  give  legal  existence  to  slavery  in  any 


398  REPUBLICANS    DISCARD    KNOW   NOTHINGS. 

territory  of  the  United  States,  while  the  present  Constitution  shall  be 
maintained."* 

There  were  also  other  resolutions  relative  to  Kansas,  to  the  "  Ostend 
Manifesto/'  and  to  polygamy  in  Utah  ;  but  the  two  which  we  have 
quoted  show  the  primal  truths,  the  essential  dements  on  which  the 
founders  of  the  republican  party  based  their  claims  for  support. 

These  resolutions  were  intended  to  invoke  a  distinct  and  unmistakable 

•» 

issue  with  all  who  held  to  the  necessity  of  corruption,  or  fraud,  or 
oppression  in  our  American  Government.  The  writer  while  serving 
in  Congress  had  publicly  called  on  southern  men  to  acknowledge 
or  deny  these  doctrines  ;  but  he  had  never  been  able  to  obtain  from 
a  slaveholder  or  a  sympathizer  with  slavery  a  direct  answer  to  'the 
question. 

The  adherence  of  those  who  founded  the  republican  organization  to 
the  doctrines  enunciated  was  well  expressed  by  a  subsequent  vote.  The 
Americans  or  Know  Nothings  of  New  York,  had  appointed  a  large  and 
respectable  committee. to  meet  a  similar  committee  from  the  Republican 
Convention,  in  order  to  agree  upon  terms  by  which  the  Americans  and 
Republicans  could  unite.  The  committee  had  come  from  New  York  for 
that  purpose,  and  were  in  the  convention  when  Governor  Morgan,  of 
that  State,  proposed  to  appoint  a  corresponding  committee  on  the  part 
of  the  Republicans  to  meet  them. 

To  this  it  was  objected  that  the  Republicans  had  proclaimed  their 
doctrines,  which  were  immutable,  and  no  committee  could  change  them. 
If  the  "  Americans"  maintained  those  doctrines,  they  would  of  course 
vote  with  the  Republicans  ;  if  they  did  not  hold  to  them,  they  could  not 
and  ought  not  to  support  them.  Nor  could  any  Republican  vote  for 
any  man  who  denied  these  essential  principles,  and  Governor  Morgan's 
proposition  was  laid  upon  the  table  with  but  little  opposition. 

The  convention  having  assumed  the  name  of  "  Republican  "  as  its 
party  designation,  and  nominated  John  C.  Fremont  as  its  candidate  for 
President,  and  William  L.  Dayton  for  Yice-President,  adjourned. 

But  this  assertion  of  primal  truths  as  the  basis  of  the  organization  was 
novel  to  the  politicians  of  the  old  parties.  Messrs.  Clay,  and  Webster, 
and  Calhoun,  and  Cass,  and  other  statesmen  had  discarded  this  policy,  and 
its  adoption  now  was  regarded  by  their  admirers  as  an  imputation  upon 
the  wisdom  which  those  great  men  were  supposed  to  possess.  All 

*  The  first  of  these  resolutions  was  penned  by  Hon.  Preston  King ;  the  latter  was  written  by  the 
author  in  his  library,  at  Jefferson,  Ohio.  Mr.  King  and  the  writer  were  both  on  the  committee 
appointed  to  report  resolutions  and  platform  to  the  convention,  and  these  were  adopted  by  unani 
mous  vote  of  the  committee,  and  in  convention  there  was  not  a  dissenting  vote. 


THE   ISSUE  MADE   UP.  39  9 

admitted  the  doctrines,  but  many  denied  the  policy  of  adopting  them. 
Some  said  the  "  self-evident  truths  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence" 
were  admitted  by  both  the  democratic  and  whig  parties.  Leading 
Democrats  in  the  free  States,  in  public  and  in  private,  asserted  that 
their  party  held  them  firmly  as  Republicans.  But  the  more  ex 
perienced  men  of  that  day  admitted  that  in  practice  both  of  the  old 
parties  denied  them. 

There  was  much  difficulty  encountered  from  that  pride  of  opinion  which 
is  natural  to  the  human  intellect.  Old  politicians  who  had  grown  grey 
in  maintaining  the  policy  of  a  national  bank,  a  protective  tariff,  and 
distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  public  lands,  could  not  understand  how 
these  should  be  laid  aside  and  the  primal  doctrines  of  government  be 
resorted  to  as  the  basis  of  a  party  organization.  Men  who  .had  always 
assailed  their  opponents  as  the  only  argument  in  favor  of  themselves, 
could  not  understand  why  the  platform  of  any  party  should  fail  to  attack 
those  who  opposed  it. 

The  result  of  the  election  placed  James  Buchanan  in  the  Executive 
Chair  ;  but  all  saw  that  his  success  had  been  achieved  by  the  united 
support  of  northern  men,  who  dared  not  deny  the  doctrines  enunciated 
by  the  Republicans  ;  or  that  the  slaveholders  practically  repudiated 
them.  It  was  also  well  understood  that  the  democratic  party  could 
only  be  held  together  by  the  enunciation  of  some  principle  on  which 
all  could  unite. 

The  American  or  Know  Nothing  party  had  now  sunk  in  political  death, 
and  only  two  parties  were  before  the  nation  :  of  these  the  republican 
only  avowed  essential  doctrines  as  its  basis. 

When  the  thirty-fourth  Congress  reassembled  in  December  ri85g 
for  its  third  session,  it  seemed  admitted  by  all  that  the  Republi 
cans  had  become  a  political  power  in  the  nation.  Their  scattered  forces 
had  been  collected,  their  principles  had  crystallized  into  definite  form, 
and  the  members  of  that  organization  felt  full  assurance  of  success  at 
the  Presidential  election  of  1860. 

The  civil  war  in  Kansas  continued  ;  property  was  destroyed,  buildings 
were  burned,  men  were  slain,  and  skirmishes  fought  in  order  to  establish 
slavery  therein. 

The  President's  annual  message  gave  ample  evidence  of  the  feelings 
of  his  party.  Former  Executives  hadjbeen  accustomed  to  express  with 
great  dignity  their  views  upon  important  questions  of  policy  and  of 
principle;  but  Mr.  Pierce  now  descended  from  his  official  position  to 
read  lectures  to  the  people  for  discussing  their  rights  :  and  he  assailed 
those  State  Legislatures  who  passed  laws  for  protecting  the  liberties 


400  THE   MESSAGE   CRITICISED. 

of  their  people  ;  and  falsely  charged  the  anti-slavery  men  with  agi 
tating  the  emancipation  of  southern  slaves.  This  misrepresentation  was 
constantly  repeated  by  men  in  office  and  politicians,  so  far  as  to  become 
evident  that  they  intended  to  falsify  the  historic  record  in  regard  to  it. 
The  message  was  criticised  with  great  freedom  ;  the  right  of  the  people 
to  discuss  whatever  subject  entered  into  the  administration  of  govern 
ment  was  maintained,  and  all  attempts  to  usurp  undelegated  authority 
by  the  Executive  was  denounced  ;  the  untruthful  assertions  in  the  mes 
sage  were  exposed,  and  the  President's  friends  were  called  on  to  vindi 
cate  him  against  these  charges  of  official  mendacity. 

In  the  Senate,  Mr.  Hale  reviewed  the  message  with  deserved  severity 
and  with  consummate  ability.  In  that  Work,  Senators  Wilson,  of 
Massachusetts,  and  Trumbull,  of  Illinois,  engaged  with  a  zeal  becoming 
patriots  ;  while  the  press  of  the  country  repelled  his  attacks  upon  the 
people  for  speaking  their  sentiments,  declaring  them  new  and  without 
precedent. 

In  the  message  the  whole  subject  of  our  Kansas  difficulties  was  open 
ed  up  for  debate.  The  question  of  extending  slavery  was  again  pre 
sented,  and  the  issue  between  the  parties  on  that  subject  was  rendered 
unmistakable.  This  was  the  first  fundamental  issue  ever  formed  be 
tween  the  political  parties  of  our  nation.  Although  the  leaders  of  the 
whig  party  in  1844  professed  opposition  to  the  extension  of  slavery, 
they  had  not  dared  to  proclaim  it  as  a  principle  in  their  national  plat 
form.  Such,  too,  was  the  case  when  the  Democrats  were  about  to  annex 
Texas  :  Indeed,  the  joint  resolutions  in  favor  of  that  measure  were  intro 
duced  both  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  House  of  Representatives  by  Whigs, 
but  now  the  republican  party,  representing  the  principles  enunciated  at 
its  formation,  stood  compactly  and  immovably  opposed  to  this  leading 
doctrine  of  the  democracy. 

1857  The  reopening  of  the  African  slave  trade  was  much  agitated  in 

the  cotton-growing  States.  The  Governor  of  Alabama,  in  his 
message,  called  attention  of  the  Legislature  to  this  subject,  and  it  was 
said  that  several  cargoes  of  slaves  had  been  recently  imported  by  its 
citizens  :  Individuals  boasted  of  having  followed  that  barbarous  traffic, 
declaring  that  the  laws  of  the  United  States  against  it  could  not  be 
enforced  within  any  slave  State.  Southern  men  insisted  that  slavery  was 
right  and  proper  ;  that  the  Federal  Government  was  bound  to  support 
it  :  and  taking  this  as  the  predicate,  they  declared-  that  it  was  for  the 
interest  of  the  cotton  States  to  increase  the  number  of  their  slaves, 
asserting  with  great  confidence  that  if  slavery  be  right,  the  slave  trade 
could  not  be  wrong. 


401 

On  the  15tti  December,  Mr.  Etheridge,  of  Tennessee,  offered  a  resolu 
tion,  declaring  "  the  African  slave  trade  to  be  shocking  to  the  moral 
sense  of  the  civilized  portion  of  mankind  ;  and  that  any  act  of  Congress 
conniving  at,  or  legalizing  that  horrid  and  inhuman  traffic  would  justly 
subject  the  Government  and  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  the  reproach 
and  execration  of  all  Christian  people  throughout  the  civilized  world." 

Southern  members  opposed  the  introduction  of  the  resolution,  but  it 
was  finally  brought  to  a  vote,  and  adopted  by  152  to  57,  only  one  mem 
ber  from  the  free  States,  Mr.  Florence,  of  Pennsylvania,  voting  with 
the  slaveholders,  while  Messrs.  Etheridge  and  Zollicoffer,  of  Tennessee; 
Smith,  of  Alabama  ;  and  Kennett,  of  Missouri,  sustained  the  resolu 
tion.  The  feeling  against  the  slave  trade  became  so  strong  that  several 
members  who  had  voted  for  it,  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking, 
took  occasion  subsequently  to  declare  their  hatred  of  it. 

During  this  last  session  of  the  thirty-fourth  Congress,  constant  inti 
mations  were  thrown  out  in  regard  to  the  settlement  of  the  constitu 
tional  right  of  carrying  slaves  into  our  Territories  by  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  northern  men  were  inquired  of  as  to  the  surrender  of  their  opinions, 
provided  the  Supreme  Court  should  decide  in  favor  of  that  measure. 
But  no  one  appeared  to  understand  the  allusion. 


402  THE   CASE   OF   DEED   SCOTT. 


CHAPTER  XXYII. 

SUBSERVIENCY  OF  THE  SUPREME  COURT CONSTITUTION  OF  KANSAS PRESI 
DENT'S  MESSAGE POLITICAL  PRINCIPLES "  AMISTAD"  SLAVES CONSTITU 
TION  OF  KANSAS  REJECTED WALKERS  EXPEDITION CLAIMS  FOR  DEPORTED 

SLAVES — RIGHT  OF  VISITATION. 

AN  important  incident  in  "  the  regime  of  slavery"  transpired 
soon  after  the  adjournment  of  the  thirty-fourth  Congress.  The 
important  and  well-defined  principles  of  the  Republican  party  needed  no 
explanation,  no  vindication.  They. were  not  only  "self-evident,"  but 
they  constituted  the  distinct  and  emphatic  doctrines  on  which  the 
Government  had  been  founded,  without  the  maintenance  of  which  it 
must  cease  to  be  that  established  by  our  fathers. 

The  result  of  the  Presidential  election  showed  clearly  that  the  demo 
cratic  party  of  the  North  dared  not  take  issue  upon  those  doctrines, 
and  had  escaped  defeat  only  by  claiming  them  as  their  own ;  while 
the  southern  wing  of  that  organization  distinctly  and  emphatically  denied 
the  existence  of  those  "  self-evident  truths." 

18_8 1  All  now  appeared  to  see  the  overthrow  of  the  democratic  party, 
unless  some  effective  movement  were  made  to  prevent  the  on 
ward  progress  of  the  republican  organization.  To  effect  this  object, 
recourse  was  had  to  the  Supreme  Court.  A  majority  of  the  members  of 
that  tribunal  were  slaveholders,  and  at  least  one  of  the  non-slaveholding 
members  was  believed  to  be  as  anxious  to  involve  the  free  States  in  the 
crime  of  sustaining  slavery,  as  were  his  fellow-judges  of  the  South.*  A 
case  was  made  up  by  counsel  in  Missouri,  stating  that  a  negro  woman, 
accompanying  her  master,  who  was  a  military  officer,  by  whom  she  was 
held  a  slave,  gave  birth  to  a  child  while  living  in  the  Louisiana  pur 
chase  north  of  36  deg.  30  min.  north  latitude,  and  subsequently  moved  to 
and  resided  in  Missouri.  The  child  had  been  named  "  Dred  Scott,"  and 
having  arrived  at  mature  age,  sued  for  his  freedom.  The  case  was  car 
ried  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  during  the  month 
of  March,  that  tribunal  took  up  the  subject,  and  after  hearing  it  elabo 
rately  argued,  very  gravely  decided,  that  "  although  the  language  used 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  broad  enough  to  include  the 

*  Judge  Baldwin,  of  Pennsylvania. 


ITS    DECISION    IN"   THE    SUPREME   COUET.  403 

whole  human  family,  and  if  used  in  a  similar  instrument  at  this  day 
would  be  so  understood  ;  yet  history  informs  us  that  such  was  not  their 
intention  ;  they  did  not  include,  nor  did  they  intend  to  embrace,  colored 
persons,  the  descendants  of  African  slaves,"  and  they  proceeded  to  de 
clare  "that  black  men,  had  no  rights  thai  white  men  were  bound  to 
respect." 

This  Denial  of  the  essential  truths  announced  in  the  Declaration  of  In- 
pendence,  astonished  the  people  of  the  free  States.  But  the  barbarous 
doctrine  that  white  men  were  not  bound  to  respect  the  right  of  black 
men  to  live,  awakened  among  the  people  an  intense  abhorrence  not  merely 
of  the  principle  but  of  the  men  who  enunciated  a  doctrine  so  revolting 
to  Christianity.  The  people  believed  the  black  man's  rights  to  life  as 
sacred  as  that  of  the  white  man. 

The  intentional  killing  of  black  men  was  universally  believed  in  the 
free  States  to  be  murder ;  yet  it  was  well  known  that  the  Federal 
Government  had  sent  our  army  to  Florida,  where  they  butchered  inno 
cent  men,  women,  and  children  because  they  were  black.  Indeed,  the 
reader  will  recollect  that  men  were  shot  down  in  the  State  of  Pennsyl 
vania  under  the  fugitive  act.  They  were  shot  by  deputy  marshals  of 
the  United  States  in  Pennsylvania  and  in  Ohio,  and  in  every  slave  State 
the  master  was  authorized  to  slay  his  bondman  if  he  resisted  the  master's 
barbarous  brutality.  And  in  all  the  cotton-growing  States  they  were 
driven  so  hard  at  labor  as  to  render  the  average  life  of  persons  after 
reaching  manhood  but  seven  years,  and  on  the  sugar  plantations  but 
five  years.*  It  was  therefore  necessary,  in  order  to  vindicate  the  insti 
tution,  for  the  Court  to  assert  this  doctrine,  revolting  as  it  was.  But 
when  that  tribunal  assumed  that  the  signers  of  the  Declaration,  in 
asserting  that  all  men  were  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  inalienable 
rights  to  life  and  liberty,  intended  to  assert  only  that  all  white  men  were 
entitled  to  these  prerogatives  of  the  human  soul,  the  people  at  once 
charged  ignorance  upon  the  Court  rather  than  upon  Jefferson  and 
Adams  and  Franklin  and  their  associates. 

That  distinguished  tribunal,  however,  became  so  excited  as  to  assert 
the  undisguised  falsehood  that  "history  showed  that  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  regarded  black  men  as  having  no  rights  that  white  men  were 
bound  to  respect." 

This  decision,  however,  recognized  one  essential  doctrine  of  the  anti- 
slavery  men.  They  had  ever  averred'  that  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  asserted  the  principles  of  the  Government,  and  that  the  Con- 

*  Vide  "  Jay'g  views  of  the  Federal  Government"  and  the  slaveholders'*  address  therein  quoted. 


4:04  THE   CASE   OF   DEED   SCOTT. 

stitution  was  to  be  so  construed  as  to  carry  out  the  essential  principles 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  But  this  had  been  denied  by 
southern  statesmen  and  by  leading  Democrats  of  the  North.  The 
Court,  however,  felt  the  necessity  of  admitting  this  doctrine,  and  were 
unable  to  find  any  warrant  for  slavery  under  the  Federal  Government, 
except  by  an  attempt  to  show  that  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  failed  to  express  their  own  views,  but  asserted  doctrines 
directly  opposed  to  those  which  they  entertained. 

The  decision,  however,  shocked  the  public  conscience.  It 
seemed  to  satisfy  the  public  mind  that  men  who  had  so  far  vitiated 
their  own  moral  natures  as  to  hold  their  fellow-men  in  degrading  bond 
age,  would  even  pervert  the  truth  of  history  in  order  to  vindicate  their 
own  conduct.  The  decision  aroused  a  spirit  of  investigation  and  of 
independent  thought  among  the  people. 

Upon  its  publication  slaveholders  and  northern  Democrats  hastened  to 
adopt  it  as  the  platform  of  their  moral  and  political  faith,  and  thus  was 
the  great  issue  between  the  Republicans  and  Democrats  distinctly  formed 
and  placed  unmistakably  upon  the  records  of  the  nation.  The  right  of 
all  men  to  live,  and  to  that  liberty  which  is  necessary  to  cherish  and 
sustain  life,  had  been  asserted  by  the  republican  Convention,  and  was 
now  as  emphatically  denied  by  the  democratic  organization  north  and 
south.  It  was  an  issue  broad  as  human  nature,  eternal  as  the  will  of 
the  Creator.  Yet  from  the  formation  of  this  issue  some  professed 
Republicans  were  dissatisfied.  They  had  belonged .  to  the  whig  party, 
had  embraced  the  doctrine  so  long  adhered  to  by  the  leaders  of  that 
organization,  "  that  no  political  party  could  succeed  upon  well  defined 
principles  ;"  "  that  the  people  were  not  sufficiently  enlightened  and  vir 
tuous  to  maintain  their  own  liberties,  or  to  adhere  to  truth  and 
justice  as  the  basis  of  governmental  organization;"  and  "therefore 
injustice,  wrong,  and  even  corruption,  were  necessary  to  t/ie  support 
of  our  Government"  They  labored  to  convince  those  who  had  long 
endeavored  to  organize  a  party  upon  the  doctrines  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  that  such  an  organization  could  not  succeed.  They  ap 
peared  unwilling  to  admit  that  Clay,  and  Webster,  and  Ewing,  and 
Corwin,  and  Fillmore,  had  been  in  error  in  their  efforts  to  placate  the 
slave  power  instead  of  resisting  it.  And  while  they  were  struggling  to 
convince  Republicans  of  what  they  deemed  errors  of  policy,  they  found 
themselves  constrained  to  practise,  the  doctrines  which  they  theoretically 
deprecated. 

The  persons  elected  by  slaveholders  from  Missouri  and  other  slave 
States  to  constitute  the  Legislature  of  Kansas  passed  an  act  authorizing 


A    NEW   ISSUE   FORMED.  405 

the  election  of  delegates  to  a  convention  for  forming  a  State  constitution 
and  government.  The  people  generally  refused  to  recognize  those  men 
as  possessing  any  power,  and  regarding  the  enactment  as  void,  refused  to 
appear  at  the  polls  or  to  vote  for  delegate.  Of  course,  those  who  were 
pro-slavery  were  elected,  and  a  slaveholding  constitution  was  framed. 
But  at  this  point  a  difficulty  was  discovered.  The  framers  of  this  pro- 
slavery  constitution  became  convinced  that  the  people  of  Kansas  would 
never  adopt  it  if  it  were  submitted  to  them  for  approval,  and  they  pro 
ceeded  to  declare  it  absolutely  the  constitution  of  that  -State  ;  and  it 
was  transmitted  to  the  President,  for  the  purpose  of  being  laid  before 
Congress  preparatory  to  admission  to  the  Federal  Union. 

At  the  assembling  of  the  thirty-fifth  Congress  there  was  more  intense 
feeling  throughout  the  United  States  in  regard  to  Kansas  than  had 
existed  at  any  former  day. 

The  "  American"  or  "Know  Nothing"  party  had  disappeared,  and 
many  Democrats  who  had  left  their  party  to  attach  themselves  to  this 
novel  association  returned  to  their  democratic  friends,  and  a  majority  of 
members  of  the  House  were  now  obedient  to  the  dictates  of  the  slave 
power.  •  James  L.  Orr,  of  South  Carolina,  was  elected  Speaker. 

President  Buchanan's  first  annual  message  was  characterized  by  an 
elaborate  argument  in  favor  of  admitting  Kansas  under. the  slaveholding 
constitution  which  had  been  adopted  by  the  Convention,  but  not  by  the 
people.  He  referred  to  the  fact  that  the  constitution  of  Kansas  secured 
to  the  master  his  property  in  slaves,  according  to  the  then  recent  "  deci 
sion  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  dictates  of  justice. ! "  Indeed,  the 
general  tone  of  the  message  recognized  slavery  as  just  and  righteous, 
exhibiting  the  entire  devotion  of  the  President  to  the  institution. 

Mr.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  and  many  other  Democrats,  had  given 
the  public  to  understand  that  they  did  not  believe  in  the  despo 
tism  manifested  by  the  Convention  in  Kansas.  They  insisted  that  the 
people  had  the  right  to  pass  judgment  upon  a  constitution  which  was  to 
bind  them  and  their  children  to  an  indefinite  period  of  tune.  But  the 
message  of  the  President  showed  them  clearly  that  support  of  this  slave- 
holding  constitution  was  to  be  the  test  of  democratic  orthodoxy. 

On  referring  the  message  to  appropriate  committees  in  the  Senate,  Mr. 
Douglas  took  occasion  to  say  that  he  differed  from  the  President  on  the 
point  alluded  to  ;  and  Mr.  Stuart,  of  Michigan,  declared  his  dissent  from 
the  President's  views  ;  while  Mr.  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  sustained  the 
President.  Other  members  were  drawn  into  the  debate,  and  it  became 
evident  that  a  rupture  of  the  democratic  party  must  take  place  from 
the  agitation  of  this  question.  Southern  oligarchs  never  permitted 


406  THE    DEMOCRACY   DIVIDED. 

their  allies  to  falter  at  any  doctrine  or  principle  which  the  slave  power 
had  adopted  ;  and  the  more  experienced  statesmen  foresaw  that  the  hesi 
tation  of  Mr.  Douglas  in  adopting  the  Lecornpton  Constitution,  without 
permitting  the  people  to  express  their  opinions  upon  it,  would  exclude 
him  from  southern  support  for  the  Presidency. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  the  message  was  criticised  with 
severity.  It  was  debated  at  length,  analyzed,  dissected,  and  its  moral 
and  political  deformities  exposed.  The  President,  in  former  times,  had 
served  both  in  the  House  of  Representatives  and  in  the  Senate,  when 
silent  and  quiet  submission  to  the  dictation  of  slaveholders  was  practised  ; 
but  he  had  been  absent  from  the  United  States  four  years,  and  appeared 
unconscious  of  the  progress  of  public  sentiment  during  that  time,  and  his 
message  had  been  far  better  adapted  to  the  twenty-iihh  than  to  the  thirty- 
fifth  Congress. 

The  public  mind  was  now  absorbed  with  the  difficulties  in  Kansas. 
Emigrants  from  every  free  State  resided  there.  They  had  left  behind 
them  relatives  and  friends,  who  sympathized  with  them  in  their  strug 
gle  for  freedom.  They  sent  to  Kansas  provisions,  money,  arms  and 
ammunition,  tents  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  war  ;  while  most  of  the 
southern  States  continued  to  send  men  and  arms  to  maintain  the  bar 
barous  code  of  slave  laws  enacted  by  the  military  usurpers  ;  and  civil 
war  continued  to  desolate  that  devoted  country. 

At  an  early  period  of  the  session,  Mr.  Douglas  introduced  to  the 
Senate  a  bill  authorizing  the  people  of  Kansas  to  adopt  a  State  consti 
tution  and  form  of  government.  Resolutions  were  also  adopted,  calling 
on  the  President  for  copies  of  all  correspondence  in  relation  to  Kansas 
not  previously  reported. 

1858 ,  In  the  House  of  Representatives,  Mr.  Banks,  from  the  Com 
mittee  on  Territories,  reported  a  similar  bill.  Other  bills,  having 
the  same  object  in  view,  were  also  reported.  These  bills  were  debated, 
and  questions  relating  to  the  extension  of  slavery,  its  moral  character 
and  its  pecuniary  bearings,  were  for  some  two  months  the  theme-  of 
remark. 

The  Legislature  of  Ohio,  in  view  of  the  difficulties  into  which  the 
democratic  party  was  being  precipitated,  adopted  re-solutions  declaring 
their  confidence  in  the  President,  their  adherence  to  the  Cincinnati  Plat 
form  ;  then,  denouncing  the  Lecompton  Constitution  as  unwise  and 
unfortunate,  and  asserting  that  every  constitution  ought  to  be  submitted 
to  the  people,  they  called  on  the  Senators  and  Representatives  from 
that  State  to  oppose  the  admission  of  Kansas  under  the  Lecompton 
Constitution. 


POLITICIANS    MORALLY    DEPRAVED.  407 

The  incongruity  of  these  resolutions  afforded  a  rich  theme  for  com 
ment  ;  yet  they  showed  that  the  democratic  party  could  not  stand 
together  on  the  issue  which  had  been  formed  between  them  and  the 
Republicans. 

The  Legislature  of  Tennessee,  anxious  to  express  the  voice  of  her 
people,  adopted  resolutions  condemnatory  of  Senator  Bell,  of  that  State, 
for  his  course  in  regard  to  Kansas,  and  instructing  her  Senators  and 
requesting  her  Representatives  to  exert  their  influence  for  the  admission 
of  Kansas  upon  the  Lecompton  Constitution. 

Mr.  Douglas  now  stood  in  avowed  opposition  to  the  President  and  his 
policy  in  relation  to  Kansas.  Senator  Stuart,  of  Michigan,  and  Senator 
Broderick,  of  California,  also  took  position  with  Mr.  Douglas.  The  last 
named  Senator  was  a  man  of  great  boldness  and  possessed  a  high  order 
of  talent.  He  frankly  and  fearlessly  maintained  his  position  against  the 
combined  opposition  of  the  party  to  which  he  had  belonged,  and  finally 
fell  a  martyr  to  his  integrity  of  purpose.  He  was  killed  in  a  duel  with 
Judge  Terry,  of  California,  and  in  his  last  moments  declared  that  he  was 
murdered  "  because  of  his  opposition  to  a  corrupt  Administration  and  the 
extension  of  slavery." 

On  the  20th  January,  the  President  transmitted  to  the  two  Houses 
of  Congress  copies  of  the  Lecompton  Constitution  and  other  documents 
connected  with  the  formation  of  a  State  government. 

The  issues  now  being  made  up,  the  supporters  of  slavery  and  the 
advocates  of  liberty  ranged  themselves  on  opposite  sides  in  well  defined 
order,  while  a  class  of  politicians,  calling  themselves  Conservatives, 
appeared  uncertain  to  which  army  they  belonged  ;  they  appeared  to  be 
vibrating  between  right  and  wrong,  ".preferring  heaven,  but  choosing 
hell." 

Others  joined  the  Republicans,  acted  with  them,  but  were  at  all  times 
anxious  to  induce  that  party  to  abandon  its  principles  and  bring  its 
members  back  to  the  support  of  the  exploded  policy  of  the  whig  party, 
of  acting  in  opposition  to  the  democratic  organization  without  referring 
to  essential  principles  for  their  guide.  This  class  of  politicians  proved 
more  dangerous  to  the  Government  than  its  open  enemies.  Incapable 
of  understanding  the  force  of  moral  truth,  or  of  appreciating  the 
omnipotence  of  justice  ;  they  at  all  times  expressed  the  conviction 
that  success  must  depend  on  shrewdness  of  management ;  that  sound 
policy  might  require  injustice  to  individuals  and  classes  or  to  sections, 
or  it  might  require  fraud  and  deception  to  carry  it  out ;  that  it  might 
even  require  bribery  and  corruption  to  maintain  the  Government. 

These  men  were  regarded  by  the   experienced   statesmen  of  that 


4:08  DIFFICULTIES    IN   THE   DEMOCRATIC    PAETY. 

day  as    political  infidels,  destitute  of  the  first  requisites  of  patriotic 
politicians. 

No  sooner  bad  the  issues  been  fully  settled  in  regard  to  Kansas,  than 
Hon.  Frederick  P.  Stauton,  of  Tennessee,  a  Democrat,  long  a  member 
of  Congress  and  more  recently  Secretary  for  the  Territory  of  Kansas* 
published  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  declaring  that 
the  real  difficulty  had  risen  from  the  unlawful  invasion  of  the  territory 
and  the  usurpation  of  its  government  by  military  force.  These  outrages 
had  been  approved  by  Mr.  Douglas  ;  at  least  he  had  insisted  that  the 
enactments  of  the  usurping  Legislature  were  valid :  Indeed,  he  had 
expressed  no  disapproval  of  the  military  invasion  of  the  territory,  and 
the  fact  that  Stanton  now  stood  fairly  upon  the  grounds  assumed  by 
Republicans  concerning  Kansas  served  to  discourage  the  leaders  of  the 
democratic  party. 

Mr.  Stanton  had  resided  in  Kansas,  was  well  acquainted  with  the 
popular  voice,  and  in  his  address  declared  that  a  large  portion  of  the 
people  were  determined  never  to  recognize  the  invaders  as  their  legitimate 
rulers,  and  he  confirmed  the  reports  concerning  frauds,  oppression  and 
despotism  practised  upon  the  people  of  the  territory. 

This  publication  from  the  pen  of  a  southern  man  of  high  moral  and 
political  standing  was  a  severe  blow  to  the  dominant  party.  Hon. 
Thomas  L.  Harris,  of  Illinois,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  who  had  been  elected  to  Congress  as  a  Democrat,  came  out  boldly 
denouncing  the  invasion  of  Kansas,  the  usurpation  of  its  government, 
and  repudiating  all  political  fellowship  with  men  who  sustained  these 
outrages.  Others  in  public  life  and  thousands  in  private  life  now 
abandoned  the  democratic  party  and  joined  the  Republicans  because 
of  their  unchanging  principles  of  liberty  and  justice. 

As  men  now  saw  almost  the  entire  time  of  Congress  occupied  in  some 
form  of  agitation  concerning  slavery,  they  lost  confidence  in  the  predic 
tion  of  Messrs.  Clay,  and  Webster,  and  Calhoun,  and  Cass,  and  Polk,  and 
Pierce,  and  Buchanan,  and  all  those  leaders  who  had  represented  that  the 
gag-rules,  the  censure  of  members,  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  Mexican 
war,  the  payment  of  Texas  debts,  the  Fugitive  Slave  act,  and  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  to  silence  agitation.  Each  of  these 
incidents  had  greatly  weakened  the  influence  of  the  free  States,  and  had 
strengthened  that  of  the  slave  States  ;  and  the  agitation,  at  first  slight, 
had  now  crystallized  into  civil  war,  which  threatened  a  dissolution  of 
the  Union  :  And  the  prediction  of  Mr.  Adams  and  his  associates  in 
1843  had  thus  far"  been  literally  fulfilled. 

To  hide  these  facts  from  the  great  body  of  the  people  was  now  the 


PRIMAL   EIGHTS    OF    HUMAN   NATURE.  409 

object  for  which  the  slave  power,  the  democratic  party  and  many  old 
Whigs  appeared  to  labor.  Indeed,  some  professing  to  have  embraced  the 
republican  faith  labored  assiduously  and  others  insidiously  to  bring 
republican  doctrines  into  disfavor.* 

The  whig  party  held  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  be  of 
binding  validity  on  all  departments  of  government,  while  the  demo 
cratic  party  correctly  asserted  that  every  officer  sworn  to  support 
the  Federal  Constitution  must  act  on  his  own  judgment,  and  could 
not  be  controlled  by  the  opinion  of  any  judge  or  officer  against  his 
own  convictions.  The  doctrines  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of 
Dred  Scott  were  examined  with  great  ability,  and  the  philosophy  of 
human  governments  was  more  fully  brought  before  the  people  thap 
at  any  former  day.  Statesmen  insisted  that  He  who  created  the  earth 
and  ordained  the  laws  by  which  its  fruits  were  produced,  had  imparted 
to  men  the  appetite  and  imposed  upon  them  the  duty  of  obtaining 
those  fruits :  That  He  who  created  the  seasons  had  given  to  men  the 
means  of  providing  protection  against  the  storms  of  heaven  ;  had  made 
it  their  duty  to  obtain  raiment  and  habitation.  That  to  say  the  Creator 
had  imposed  these  duties  upon  men  without  giving  them  the  inherent 
and  imprescriptible  right  to  that  liberty  which  is  necessary  to  obtain 
them  would  be  an  impeachment  of  the  Creator's  justice,  and  downright 
infidelity.  They  asserted  that  it  was  "  self-evident "  that  every  human 
being  possessed  the  right  to  enjoy  the  light  of  the  sun,  to  breathe  the 
air  of  heaven,  to  satisfy  his  hunger  from  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  so  long 
as  he  forbears  to  interfere  with  the  rights  vested  in  other  persons. 
They  insisted  that  these  rights  and  necessities  are  not  given  nor  im 
posed  by  human  constitutions,  or  human  laws,  or  human  governments  ; 
but  by  the  Creator  ;  and  that  human  governments,  constitutions  and 
laws  should  recognize  these  rights  as  constituting  a  part  of  the  Divine 


*  Hon.  Thomas  Corwin,  of  Ohio,  had  been  Governor  of  that  State,  a  Representative  and  a  Sena 
tor  in  Congress,  and  more  recently  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  Mr.  Fillmore.  On  professing 
to  hold  republican  doctrines  he  was  nominated  for  Congress.  He  attended  a  State  republican  con 
vention,  and  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions.  The  committee  reported  resolutions 
modified  in  their  tone  from  the  platform  adopted  at  Philadelphia.  Soon  as  the  regular  business  of 
the  convention  was  completed,  Mr.  G'orwin  was  called  on  for  an  address.  He  complied,  and  spent 
three-fourths  of  an  hour  in  efforts  to  convince  Republicans  of  the  duty  of  catching  and  return 
ing  fugitive  slaves.  The  writer  was  next  called,  and  he  spent  an  equal  amount  of  time  in  ridi 
culing  and  holding  up  to  pub  lie  •contempt  every  "  bloodhound  "  who  chased  negroes,  whether  on 
two  or  four  legs. 

Subsequently,  Mr.  Corwin  was  reported  to  have  boldly  denied  the  essential  truth  that  the  natural 
rights  of  mankind  to  life  and  liberty  were  derived  from  the  Creator.  He  was  reported  to  have  said 
that  "  all  our  rights  are  derived  from  the  Constitution."  To  this  the  writer  replied  in  a  letter 
to  a  friend,  which  was  published  ;  and  the  editor  of  the  paper  giving  Mr.  Corwin's  speech  then 
stated  that  it  had  been  erroneously  reported. 


410  ME.  CKITTENDEN'S  AMENDMENT. 

Will  :  That  invasion  of  these  rights  must  of  necessity  constitute  crime, 
whether  such  invasion  be  by  individuals  or  by  men  associated  in  the 
legislative  or  executive  administration  of  governments.  They  asserted 
that  religion  and  philosophy  blended  and  united  in  support  of  these 
principles,  and  that  the  duties  of  Christians  and  philosophers,  statesmen 
and  jurists  were  precisely  the  same  in  regard  to  them. 

These  doctrines,  held  by  all  true  Republicans,  were  opposed  and  denied 
by  all  slaveholders  and  northern  Democrats  :  But  the  Conservatives,  as 
they  were  called,  would  neither  admit  nor  deny  them  ;  but  generally 
bore  themselves  in  such  manner  as  to  induce  Republicans  to  believe  they 
held  to  them,  and  at  the  same  time  cause  the  Democrats  to  believe  they 
denied  them. 

1858  ]  0^  tm's  character  was  Mr.  Crittenden,  of  Kentucky.  He  was 
an  honest  man  of  the  school  alluded  to.  He  had  been  a  contem 
porary  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  held  the  policy  which  that  statesman  maintained. 
He  was  eloquent  and  able  :  and  his  constant  efforts  at  compromise  arose 
from  the  conviction  that  deception  and  fraud  and  oppression  were  neces 
sary  to  save  the  Government.  He  introduced  an  amendment  to  the  bill 
for  admitting  Kansas  with  its  slaveholding  constitution.  His  amend 
ment  provided  in  substance  that  Kansas  should  be  admitted  under  the 
Lecompton  Constitution,  provided  her  people  should  at  a  subsequent 
election  vote  in  favor  of  adopting  it. 

This  amendment  was  in  accordance  with  Mr.  Douglas'  views,  and 
every  Republican  in  the  Senate  voted  for  it :  But  as  the  Senate  was 
strongly  democratic,  the  amendment  was  rejected;  the  bill  passed  and  was 
sent  to  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  Constitution  of  Kansas  in  Article  1,  Section  7,  declared  that 
"  the  right  of  property  is  before  and  higher  than  any  constitutional 
sanction,  and  the  right  of  an  owner  of  a  slave  to  such  slave  and  its  in 
crease  is  the  same  and  is  as  inviolate  as  the  right  of  the  owner  of  any 
property  whatever." 

The  antagonism  between  this  provision  in  the  Lecompton  Constitution 
of  Kansas  and  the  American  Declaration  of  Independence  was  so  clear 
and  unmistakable  that  no  intelligent  mind  could  misapprehend  the  issue. 
Yet  republican  Senators  had  voted  for  this  amendment,  which  if  adopted 
would  admit  Kansas  as  a  slaveholding  State. 

The  debate  in  the  House  of  Representatives  was  long,  able  and  greatly 
embittered  by  the  violations  of  faith  which  had  repealed  the  Missouri 
restriction  of  slavery  ;  yet,  the  fundamental  principle  which  denies  the 
right  of  men  to  enslave  their  fellows  constituted  the  issue  on  which  the 
parties  were  contending. 


THE   VOTE   THEREON.  411 

The  amendment  of  Mr.  Crittenden  was  now  pressed  in  private  conver 
sation  upon  the  Republicans  of  the  House,  as  the  only  means  of  defeat 
ing  the  bill.  It  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  compromise  be 
tween  slavery  and  freedom.  But  for  its  adoption  in  the  House  most 
Republicans  were  anxious,  under  the  conviction  that  it  would  defeat  the 
Senate's  bill. 

Atf  length  the  Senate's  bill  came  up  for  hearing.     The  writer     r1858 
moved  its  rejection  :  Against  this  motion  all  the  members  from 
the  slave  States  voted,  together  with  the  following,  from — 

CONNECTICUT.  .     Messrs.  Arnold,  Bishop,  and  Clark, 3 

NEW  YORK.     .         " •      Clarke,  John  Cochrane,  Corning,    Haskins, 
Hatch,  Kelly,  Maclay,  Russell,  Searing, 

Sickles,  Taylor,  and  Ward, 12 

NEW  JERSEY.  .         "        Ad  rain,  Huyler,  and  Wortendyke,    ....     3 
PENNSYLVANIA.         "       AM,  Dewart,  Dimmick,  Gillis,  J.  Glancy 
Jones,  Owen  Jones,  Laudy,  Leidy,  Mont 
gomery,  Phillips,  and  White,    .     .     .     .11 
OHIO.     ...         "        Burns,   Cox,    Groesbeck,  Hall,  Lawrence, 

Miller,  and  Pendletou, t 

INDIANA.     .     .         "       Davis,  English,  Foley,  Gregg,  Hughes,-  and 

Niblack, 6 

ILLINOIS.      .     .         "       Marshall,  Morris,  and  Shaw, 3 

CALIFORNIA.      .         "        McKibbin  and  Scott, 2 

These  forty-seven  northern  Democrats,  with  the  slaveholders  of  all 
parties,  constituted  the  negative  vote  on  the  motion  to  reject  the  bill, 
making  in  all  131,  while  the  affirmative  included  the  whole  republican 
force,  amounting  to  95  votes  ;  and  the  motion  failed  by  a  majority  of 
forty-seven.  Maine,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Yennoiit,  Michigan, 
Wisconsin  and  Iowa  furnished  no  vote  against  the  rejection  of  this  bill. 
After  the  failure  of  this  motion,  Mr.  Montgomery,  of  Pennsylvania, 
offered  the  amendment  of  Mr.  Crittenden  as  a  substitute  for  the  bill,  and 
it  was  adopted  by  120  ayes  to  112  noes.  The  bill  being  thus  amended, 
passed  the  House  and  was  sent  to  the  Senate  for  concurrence.  The 
Senate  rejected  the  amendment,  as  was  expected.  A  committee  of  con 
ference  after  much  labor. agreed  upon  a  substitute  for  the  bill,  which  was 
finally  passed.  By  it  the  constitution  was  returned  to  Kansas  for  adop 
tion  by  the  people.  But  as  it  was  well  understood  that  most  of  the 
people  of  Kansas  were  in  favor  of  a  free  State,  there  was  but  little 
chance  for  its  adoption  :  Yet  the  friends  of  African  bondage  in  the 


THE   SLAVE   POWEK   AGAIN   DEFEATED. 

Senate  continued  to  press  the  matter  of  slavery  in  Kansas  upon  the 
consideration  of  that  body. 

The  admission  had  been  defeated  against  the  combined  influence  of 
the  slave  power  and  the  democratic  party,  aided  by  the  Executive,  who 
declared  that  "  Kansas  was  as  much  a  slave  State  as  Georgia  or  South 
Carolina." 

185g,          The   Legislature   of    New  York   having  passed    resolutions 
against  the  admission  of  Kansas  as  a  slave  State,  transmitted 
them  to  Senator  Seward,  who  presented  them  to  the  body  of  which  he 
was  a  member. 

The  Republicans  became  still  more  confident  after  this  defeat  of  the 
slave  power.  But  although  the  great  body  of  that  party  were  hostile  to 
the  institution  of  slavery  upon  political  and  economical  principles,  there 
were  comparatively  few  who  regarded  it  a  crime,  or  asserted  that  life 
and  liberty  were  "gifts  of  God,"  lying  behind  and  above  human  enact 
ments  :  While  the  framers  of  the  Lecompton  Constitution  did  not 
hesitate  to  assert  that  "  the  right  of  property  in  slaves  existed  before, 
and  was  higher  than  any  constitutional  sanction  :"  Indeed,  this  moral 
phenomenon  manifests  itself  throughout  the  history  of  the  American 
Government.  The  advocates  of  oppression,  of  despotism  and  crime, 
have  ever  exhibited  a  boldness  that  almost  commands  respect :  while 
the  advocates  of  liberty,  justice  and  Christianity  have  been  modest, 
retiring  and  diffident. 

This  defeat  of  the  slave  power  was  more  deeply  felt  by  southern  men 
than  "was  generally  understood.  After  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from 
California,  the  supporters  of  that  institution  looked  to  Kansas  as  the 
remaining  source  from  whence  to  add  another  slave  State  to  the  Union. 
That  having  failed,  they  seemed  to  comprehend  their  situation.  They 
felt  that  they  were  to  be  rapidly  dwarfed  in  political  power  and  influ 
ence,  preparatory  to  the  final  extinction  of  human  bondage. 
1858,  Laboring  under  these  gloomy  forebodings,  the  advocates  of 
slavery  appeared  to  feel  that  spirit  of  desperation  which  usually 
precedes  the  overthrow  of  men  and  of  nations.  They  now  spoke  boldly 
of  secession  ;  of  separating  from  the  free  States,  and  gave  distinct  indi 
cations  of  that  subsequent  uprising  in  favor  of  oppression,  which  will  in 
coming  time  form  one  of  the  most  astonishing  incidents  in  the  history  of 
nations. 

The  President,  in  his  annual  message,  had  again  recommended  an 
appropriation  from  the  public  treasury  to  compensate  the  Cuban  slave- 
dealers,  who  professed  to  own  the  people  on  board  the  Spanish  schooner 
"Amistad."  This  recommendation  was  regarded  by  many  northern 


THE  "AMISTAD"  CLAIM  DEFEATED.  413 

members  as  insulting  to  the  people  of  the  free  States.  It  was  so  treated  in 
the  House  of  Representatives.  Mr.  Leach,  of  Michigan,  a  devoted  friend 
of  liberty,  made  an  expose  of  its  absurdity,  and  a  democratic  Committee 
on  Foreign  Affairs  in  the  House  consigned  this  recommendation  of  the 
President  to  the  same  silent  repose  to  which  northern  petitions  had  been 
committed  in  former  days.  This  was  the  fourth  time  that  the  Executive 
.had  pressed  upon  Congress  the  propriety  of  appropriating  the  money  of 
the  people  to  sustain  this  Cuban  slave  trade  ;  but  the  rising  of  those 
Africans,  and  assertion  of  their  liberty,  was  so  palpably  just,  so  evidently 
in  accordance  with  the  law  o.f  nature,  that  Executive  influence,  aided  by 
that  of  the  slave  power,  could  not  subject  the  people  of  the  free  States 
to  the  humiliation  of  paying  the  piratical  slavedealers  for  the  loss  of 
their  victims. 

But  the  Senate  treated  the  message  with  greater  respect.  Mr.  Mason, 
of  Virginia,  from  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  reported  a  bill  grant 
ing  full  indemnity  to  those  slavedealers  :  And  so  zealous  was  the  author 
of  the  bill  for  its  passage,  that  he  obtained  a  vote  making  it  the  special 
order,  for  a  day  certain  at  the  next  session,  when  it  was  to  override  all 
other  business  ;  but  learning  the  repeated  fate  of  that  measure  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  being  aware  that  Messrs.  Seward,  Sumner 
and  Hale  were  prepared  to  resist  its  passage,  he  failed  to  call  it  up  for 
debate,  and  this  favorite  measure  of  the  slave  power,  after  a  struggle  of 
nearly  twenty  years,  slept  in  silence. 

While  these  incidents  were  transpiring,  the  people  of  Kansas  had 
elected  delegates  to  a  convention  for  the  purpose  of  framing  a  free  State 
government.  The  convention  met  at  Topeka,  and  agreed  upon  a  con 
stitution.  The  Legislature  passed  resolutions  in  favor  of  admission 
upon  this  constitution,  and  transmitted  the  resolutions  to  Congress. 
They  were  respectfully  received  and  ordered  to  be  printed,  and  the 
status  of  the  territory  in  regard  to  slavery  appeared  to  be  established, 
although  the  slave  power  interposed  every  obstacle  that  could  delay 
its  admission  as  a  State. 

The  advocates  of  human  bondage  now  realized  their  condition. 
California  was  free :  All  efforts  to  create  a  war  with  Spain,  in 
order  to  obtain  Cuba,  had  failed,  and  the  Ostend  Manifesto  had 
fallen  into  apparent  contempt.  The  last  and  greatest  effort  to  extend 
slavery  into  Kansas  had  been  defeated,  notwithstanding  -  the  entire 
influence  of  the  Executive  and  of  the  democratic  party  had  been  ear 
nestly  exerted  in  favor  of  the  measure  :  and  it  was  evident  that  no 
further  extension  of  the  institution  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States  could  be  hoped  for  :  The  slave  power  found  its  energies  para- 


414:         ANOTHER  PLAN  FOE  EXTENDING  SLAVERY. 

lyzed,  its  influence  dissipated,  and  its  prestige  lost.  The  popular  feel 
ing  of  the  free  States  had  been  awakened  to  its  moral  and  political 
crimes  :  yet  its  devotees  determined  on  one  more  effort  to  extend  the 
institution  and  increase  its  power  for  maintaining  a  separate  and  inde 
pendent  government,  before  leaving  that  which  had  so  long,  protected 
and  cherished  it. 

1S58  -j  An  expedition  to  Central  America  for  the  purpose  of  conquest 
was  now  agitated  among  the  people  of  the  slave  States.  That 
country  was  well  adapted  to  slave  labor.  The  people  were  supposed  to 
be  somewhat  effeminate,  and  unprepared  to  defend  themselves  against 
an  invading  force.  William  Walker,  of  Alabama,  appeared  to  be  the 
master-spirit  of  this  piratical  foray  upon  an  unoffending  people  :  while 
many  leading  men  of  the  slave  States  were  said  to  be  active  in  aiding 
him  with  men  and  money  to  carry  out  his  design.  Indeed  so  fully 
were  the  people  of  the  slave  States  identified  with  this  unlawful  and 
unauthorized  invasion  of  Central  America,  that  no  man  of  the  South 
was  known  to  oppose  it.  The  subject  was  openly  approved  and  encou 
raged  by  some  of  the  southern  newspapers,  while  it  is  not  known  that  a 
paper  in  either  of  the  slave  States  openly  condemned  it.  It  was  said  by 
Walker,  and  believed  by  the  public,  that  he  held  conversations  with  the 
President  and  other  high  officers  of  Government,  stating  to  them  his 
intentions  ;  and  Walker  himself  asserted  that  he  had  the  President's 
tacit  consent  to  fit  out  the  expedition,  which  was  a  most  palpable 
violation  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States  as  well  as  of  the  law  of  nations. 
He  went  so  far  as  to  publish  what  appeared  to  be  a  correspondence 
between  himself  and  the  Federal  Executive  on  the  subject,  and  which  is 
yet  uncontradicted  by  President  Buchanan  :  but  the  popular  disgust  of 
the  North  became  apparent.  The  northern  press  spoke  out  manfully  in 
condemnation  of  all  who  aided  or  approved  of  this  outrage  upon  inter 
national  as  well  as  municipal  law  :  and  the  President  appeared  to  feel 
constrained  to  make  an  effort  to  suppress  the  movement.  Whether 
this  effort  was  made  in  good  faith  or  not,  is  a  question  which  the  writer 
is  not  authorized  to  pass  upon,  but  it  is  due  to  the  truth  of  history  that 
he  should  say  the  President  at  that  time  could  not  have  suppressed  this 
expedition  gotten  up  among  a  people,  all  of  whom  were  in  favor 
of  it. 

It  consisted  of  a  few  hundred  men  and  three  ships.  They  left  our 
shores  and  landed  in  Nicaragua.  Walker  issued  a  proclamation  declar 
ing  the  establishment  of  a  new  government,  constituting  slavery  one  of 
its  essential  elements. 

The  public  indignation  became  so  manifest  after  the  expedition  had 


CAPTURE   AND   DISCHARGE    OF   WALKEK. 

departed,  that  the  President  gave  orders  to  Commodore  Paulding  to 
pursue  Walker  and  bring  him  back  to  the  United  States. 

Walker  was  a  man  of  daring  and  enterprise.  He  was  cruel  and 
despotic.  But  placed  in  that  sickly  climate,  with  little  food  and  less 
medical  attendance,  his  force  diminished  as  he  advanced,  until  he  fonnd 
himself  unable  to  proceed  further.  He  was  soon  surrounded  by  greatly 
superior  numbers,  and  appearances  indicated  that  justice  might  speedily 
be  executed  upon  him  and  his  followers. 

In  the  meantime  the  brave  old  commodore,  dreaming  of  no  ri858 
deception,  but  regarding  it  his  duty  to  bring  back  Walker,  and 
having  reached  the  coast,  sent  all  his  disposable  force  in  pursuit,  and 
Walker  and  his  men  were  rescued  from  the  grasp  of  an  outraged  peo 
ple,  by  the  men  sent  to  arrest  and  bring  them  to  the  United  States, 
in  order  that  justice  might  be  executed  upon  them. 

This  faithful  and  literal  execution  of  orders  by  the  gallant  commo 
dore,  appeared  to  have  been  unexpected  by  the  President,  as  well  as 
by  the  slave  power.  Walker  was  now  in  the  United  States,  and  in 
the  custody  of  their  officers  :  Yet  no  efficient  movement  for  his  pun 
ishment  was  made  ;  and  southern  statesmen,  with  characteristic  effront 
ery,  charged  both  the  President  and  Commodore  Paulding  with  the 
exercise  of  unlawful  authority  in  arresting  Walker  and  his  men  while 
within  the  territory  of  a  foreign  power.  It  was  admitted  that  he  had 
violated  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  would  have  been  liable  to 
punishment  had  he  been  arrested  on  the  water ;  but  inasmuch  as  he 
was  captured  on  land,  they  contended  that  the  whole  proceeding  was 
void,  and  they  demanded  the  discharge  of  Walker  and  his  men. 

The  President,  always  subservient  to  the  slave  power,  directed  the 
discharge  of  Walker,  not  because  he  was  innocent,  nor  because  he  was 
not  properly  held  under  the  laws,  but  for  the  reason  that  he  had  been 
arrested  on  land  and  not  on  water.  The  absurdity  of  the  principle  that 
Walker  ought  to  escape  punishment  because  he  had  been  arrested  within 
another  government  by  consent  of  that  government,  will  at  once  enable 
the  reader  to  comprehend  both  the  effrontery  of  the  slave  power  and 
the  abject  obsequiousness  of  the  Executive. 

The  Senate,  by  resolution,  called  on  the  President  for  such  corres 
pondence  and  information  touching  the  capture  of  Walker  and  his  men 
by  Commodore  Paulding,  as  might  be  in  possession  of  the  Executive. 
In  answer  to  this  resolution,  the  President  spoke  mildly  of  Walker's 
offence,  and  explicitly  disapproved  of  his  capture  on  land.  The  message 
was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  of  which  Mr.  Mason 
was  chairman.  He  made  a  report,  concurring  in  the  views  of  the  Presi- 


416  SLAVES    IMPORTED   FKOM    AFRICA. 

dent,  and  strongly  censuring  Commodore  Paulding  for  the  faithful  per 
formance  of  his  duties.  There  was  much  debate  on  this  resolution. 
Slaveholding  Senators  approved  Walker's  expedition,  and  were  there 
fore  unwilling  to  hear  it.  denounced. 

The  subject  also  attracted  much  attention  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives.  Southern  members  justified  Walker  and  his  expedition,  while 
the  advocates  of  human  rights  denounced  the  invasion  of  Nicaragua  as 
an  infraction  of  natural  and  of  international  law,  for  the  worse  than 
piratical  object  of  establishing  slavery  therein.  They  ridicule-d  the  idea 
that  Walker's  capture  on  land  constituted  any  reason  why  he  should  not 
be  punished  :  Showed  that  if  any  one  had  a  right  to  complain  of  the 
force  which  captured  Walker,  it  must  be  the  government  of  Nicaragua, 
with  whose  consent  the  arrest  was  made  :  That  the  guilt  or  inno 
cence  of  Walker  was  not  affected  by  the  place,  of  his  capture,  and  that 
nothing  short  of  slaveholding  audacity  would  raise  the  objection,  and 
nothing  short  of  abject  servility  would  admit  the  validity  of  such  an 
argument. 

But  these  troubles  to  the  slave  power  came  not  alone.  As  it  was 
known  that  slaves  were  imported  into  the  southern  States,  and  the. 
American  Executive  was  supposed  to  connive  at  this  crime,  which  our 
nation  and  laws  had  pronounced  "  piracy,"  the  British  Government  sent 
cruisers  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  watch  for  piratical  slavedealers.  These 
cruisers,  while  seeking  for  men  who  had  waged  a  piratical  war  upon  hu 
man  nature,  interrupted  some  suspected  American  merchantmen  so  far 
as  to  ascertain  that  they  were  "  Americans,'7  and  not  "  pirates."  The 
masters  o£  these  ships,  on  reaching  the  United  States,  sympathizing 
with  the  slave  interests,  made  complaint  of  having  been  stopped  on  their 
voyage  by  British  cruisers  who  claimed  to  exercise  the  "  right  of  search." 
This  right  of  search  claimed  by  England  in  time  of  war  to  examine  the 
manifests  and  cargoes  of  neutral  powers  had  constituted  one  of  the  prin 
cipal  causes  of  the  war  of  1812,  and  the  very  name  was  odious  to  the 
American  people.  The  slave  power  understood  this  cruising  in  the  West 
India  seas  and  in  the  Gulf  as  an  imputation  upon  the  "  peculiar  insti 
tution,"  and  became  excited,  threatening  vengeance  upon  Britain  for 
"  thus  attempting  to  put  down  the  commerce  of  the  United  States,"  as 
they  expressed  it.  The  hereditary  jealousy  and  long  cherished  prejudices 
of  American  sailors  in  regard  to  England  as  a  maritime  power  did  not 
fail  to  exaggerate  every  case  in  which  an  American  ship  had  been  visited 
by  British  officers. 

On  the  14th  May,  Mr.  Bright,  of  Indiana,  presented  a  resolution 
calling  on  the  President  for  any  information  which  might  be  in  his 


AN   ABANDONMENT   OF   DOCTRINES.  417 

possession  touching  encroachments  upon  our  commerce  in  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.* 

The  President,  in  answer  to  the  resolution,  communicated  such  infor* 
m'ation  as  he  possessed,  and  the  whole  subject  was  referred  to  the  Com 
mittee  on  Foreign  Relations. 

On  the  25th  May,  Mr.  Mason,  chairman  of  the  committee,  made  a 
report,  setting  forth  the  doctrine  asserted  by  Mr.  Stevenson,  our  minis 
ter  at  London,  in  1838,  that  British  cruisers,  while  searching  for  slave- 
dealers  declared  pirates  by  England  and  the  United  States,  have  no 
right  to  intercept  the  progress  of  a  suspected  ship  bearing  the  American 
flag,  even  to  ascertain  whether  it  be  engaged  in  the  slave  trade  or  in 
lawful  commerce. 

This  doctrine  had  been  met  and  combated  by  Mr.  Adams  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  apparently  abandoned  by  the  American 
Government  in  1842,  when,  by  the  Treaty  of  Washington,  the  British 
ambassador  not  only  refused  to  acknowledge  the  exemption  of  suspected 
vessels  from  such  inquiry,  but  the  American  Government  agreed  to  fur 
nish  a  naval  force  to  be  kept  near  the  African  coast  for  the  purpose  of 
suppressing  the  slave  trade. 

It  appeared  clear  to  the  judgment  of  reflecting  men,  that  every  ,185g 
master  of  a  ship  who  detested  the  traffic  in  slaves,  would  gladly 
exhibit  his  innocence  whenever  suspected.  It  was  equally  plain  that 
no  nation  who  held  the  slave  trade  in  just  execration,  would  complain  of 
such  interruption  of  its  ships  when  suspected  of  being  engaged  in  that 
inhuman  traffic.  But  it  was  the  intention  of  the  slave  interest  to  resist 
the  exercise  of  this  legitimate  power  and  duty  by  Great  Britain  and  by 
our  own  national  ships,  as  southern  men  were  at  that  time  notoriously 
engaged  in  the  importation  of  slaves  :  and  strange  to  say,  not  a  Repub 
lican  in  the  Senate  uttered  a  word  against  this  arrogant  doctrine,  which 
had  been  so  successfully  resisted  by  Mr.  Adams  eighteen  years  pre 
viously.  On  the  contrary,  Messrs.  Hale  and  Seward,  and  Wilson  and 
Wade  united  in  supporting  the  doctrine  contended  for  by  slavedealers 
and  successfully  resisted  by  the  advocates  of  liberty  for  twenty  years 
previously.  The  resolutions  of  Mr.  Mason,  evidently  concocted  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  our  ships  engaged  in  the  slave  trade  from  visita 
tion  by  British  cruisers,  were  adopted  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the 
Senate  :  and  the  influence  of  that  body  was  prostituted  to  protecting 
the  slave  merchants  of  the  United  States  from  merited  punishment. 


*  This  gentleman  was  expelled  from  the  thirty-seventh  Congress  on  account  of  his  sympathy 
with  the  rebels. 

27 


418  FURTHER    CLAIMS    FOR   DEPORTED    SLAVES. 

The  subject  was  also  debated  in  the  House,  where  the  doctrines  assert 
ed  by  unanimous  vote  of  the  Senate  were  characterized  as  a  code  for  the 
protection  and  encouragement  of  "  American  piracy."  In  that  body 
the  doctrines  enunciated  by  Lord  Palinerston,  and  maintained  by  Mi*. 
Adams,  were  reiterated  and  supported  by  argument.  „„ 

In  a  former  chapter  the  reader  has  been  informed  of  the  man 
ner  in  which  compensation  was  obtained  for  slaves  deported  by  the 
British  army  and  navy  after  the  treaty  of  Q-hent  had  been  entered  into. 
A  list  of  all  slaves  lost  after  entering  into  that  treaty  was  made  out, 
and  when  compensation  had  been  obtained  from  tlie  British  Government, 
notice  was  given  to  claimants  to  make  proof  of  their  loss  and  receive 
the  money.  At  this  stage  of  the  proceedings  it  was  found  that  many 
claimants  had  preferred  fraudulent  demands  for  slaves  which  they  had 
not  lost.  These  fraudulent  demands  had  swelled  the  amount  received 
from  the  British  Government  much  above  the  real  loss  of  slaves.  This 
surplus  remained  in  the  treasury,  and  southern  slaveholders,  emboldened 
by  the  success  of  the  bill  for  the  relief  of  "  WIGG,"  heretofore  men 
tioned,  now  presented  a  list  of  slaves  said  to  have  been  really  lost  at  the 
close  of  the  war  of  1812,  but  not  claimed  until  the  present  session.  Al- 
phia  Jennings  claimed  four  slaves;  Henry  A.  Wise,  one;  Ann  Robin 
son,  one;  Edward  Reed  claimed  a  husband,  wife,  and  four  children  ; 
Mary  Martin,  one  slave. 

Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  presented  the  claims  and  reported  the  bill  in 
favor  of  paying  for  them.  He  and  Mr.  Pugh,  of  Ohio,  argued  in  favor 
of  the  bill.  Mr.  Hale  frankly  avowed  his  hostility  to  the  bill,  as  it 
acknowledged  property  in  human  flesh.  Mr.  Hamlin,  of  Maine,  stated 
that  he  was  unable  to  find  sufficient  facts  to  require  him  to  look  into  the 
principles  of  the  claim.  Mr.  Mason  declared  that  Great  Britain  had 
paid  over  the  money,  and  he  did  not  deem  it  necessary  to  debate  the 
opinions  of  Mr.  Hale,  as  the  humanitarian  views  of  Great  Britain  were 


Mr.  Seward,  of  New  York,  said  he  was  a  member  of  the  committee 
who  reported  the  bill,  that  he  had  opposed  it  in  committee,  and  now  op 
posed  it.  He  declared  that  no  condition  of  things,  no  circumstances,  no  con 
siderations,  should  induce  him  to  vote  for  any  bill  that  recognized  property 
in  man.  He  stated  that  he  was  not  prepared  to  admit  that  the  people  or 
government  of  Great  Britain  were  modifying  their  views  in  regard  to 
slavery.  The  bill,  however,  passed  the  Senafe  by  a  vote  of  32  to  15. 
Messrs.  Allen,  of  Rhode  Island  ;  Broderick,  of  California  ;  Doolittle,  of 
Wisconsin  ;  Fitch,  of  Indiana  ;  Pugh,  of  Ohio  ;  Stuart,  of  Michigan  ; 
and  Wright,  of  New  Jersey,  voting  with  the  slaveholders. 


COMPENSATION   KEFUSED.  419 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  the  character  of  these  claims  was  ex 
posed  by  Hon.  Philemon  Bliss,  of  Ohio,  a  modest,  retiring  man,  but  an 
able  and  zealous  defender  of  truth  and  justice  :  The  bill  was  defeated. 
During  this  debate  Mr.  Garnett,  of  Virginia,  became  personally  insult 
ing  towards  the  author  for  opposing  the  bill.  He  was  a  slaveholding 
Virginian,  and  among  the  first  in  that  State  to  encourage  and  pro 
mote  the  rebellion  which  occurred  two  years  subsequently.* 

*  At  the  commencement  of  the  rebellion  Garnett  received  a  brigadier-general's  commission  in 
the  Confederate  service,  and  fell  at  the  battle  of  Antietam,  in  1862. 


4:20  CHANGE  IN   POPULAjR   SENTIMENT. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

CHANGE    OF    POPULAR    SENTIMENT — PRESIDENT'S    MESSAGE — THE    "  AMISTAD  " 

SLAVES. 

1858.]  DURING  the  recess  of  the  thirty-fifth  Congress,  the  people  of 
Kansas  elected  delegates  to  a  convention  for  the  purpose  of  form 
ing  a  constitution  and  State  government.  They  met  at  Leavenworth, 
and  performed  the  duty  assigned  them,  adopting  measures  for  demand 
ing  admission  to  the  Union  ;  and  at  the  reassembling  of  Congress  the 
cause  of  liberty  appeared  more  cheering  than  it  had  at  any  time  during 
the  preceding  half  century.  Resistance  to  the  encroachments  of  the 
slave  power  had  become  the  sentiment  of  the  northern  people  ;  submis 
sion  to  slaveholding  dictation  had  become  unpopular  ;  northern  members 
of  Congress  no  longer  turned  pale  for  trembled  at  the  frowns  or  the 
threats  of  slaveholders.  Yet  a  class  of  servile  politicians  appeared  per 
fectly  unconscious  of  the  moral  and  political  change  that  was  going 
on  around  them.  They  seemed  to  imagine  that,  like  themselves,  the 
world  was  approaching  a  fossilized  insensibility. 

There  were  also  ambitious  men,  those  who  had  opposed  the  republican 
organization  until  its  success  became  certain  ;  they  then  joined  it  for  the 
purpose  of  being  in  a  majority.  They  could  not  readily  assume  a  leading 
position  in  a  party  which  they  had  long  opposed.  These  men  were 
anxious  for  some  change  of  parties  that  would  place  them  more  conspicu 
ously  before  the  public  ;  and  it  was  clearly  foreseen  that  the  cause  of 
human  rights  was  to  be  in  far  less  danger  from  the  slave  power  than 
from  timid  Conservatives  and  ambitious  politicians,  who,  having  long 
served  in  the  whig  and  democratic  parties,  were  anxious  to  resuscitate  the 
ancient  policy  of  those  organizations,  of  avowing  no  moral  truth  or  es 
sential  principle  by  which  political  partisans  were  to  be  judged,  or  to  the 
support  of  which  they  might  be  committed.  This  class  of  men  were  look 
ing  at  Presidential  elections,  contemplating  the  means  of  elevating  them 
selves  and  friends  to  office,  while  others  were  toiling  for  the  reformation 
of  the  Government. 

The  President,  in  his  annual  message,  represented  the  excitement  in 
Kansas  as  dying  away  ;  which  was  very  true,  as  the  armed  forces  of  the 
slave  States  had  left,  and  the  advocates  of  a  free  State  were  quietly 
pursuing  their  own  happiness.  He  next  asserted  that  there  was  a  gene- 


A    SENILE   PRESIDENT. 


ral  acquiescence  in  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  that  a  master 
might  carry  his  slaves  as  property  into  any  territory  of  the  United  States, 
and  hold  them  under  the  guardianship  of  the  Federal  Constitution  :  And 
then  declared  that  it  had  been  settled  at  the  last  session  of  Congress 
that  the  people  of  a  territory  had  the  right  under  the  Federal  Constitu 
tion  to  come  into  the  Union  with  or  without  slavery. 

He  next  avowed  that  all  resistance  to  the  usurped  government  in  Kan 
sas  had  ceased,  and  that  all  opposition  to  it  had  been  a  resistance  to 
rightful  authority  ;  and  characterized  the  efforts  of  the  people  of  Kansas 
in  favor  of  the  Topeka  Constitution,  and  against  that  framed  at  Lecomp- 
ton,  as  grave  errors. 

It  is  no  part  of  the  historian's  duty  to  explain  these  official  statements, 
and  it  is  beyond  his  power  to  reconcile  them  with  truth  as  demonstrated 
by  acknowledged  facts.  So  far  from  acquiescing  in  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court'  that  a  master  may  carry  his  slaves  into  any  territory  of 
the  United  States  and  hold  them  under  the  protection  of  the  Federal 
Constitution,  the  feeling  of  hostility  against  the  decision  was  -much 
stronger  than  when  it  was  first  published.  It  was  however  true  that 
resistance  to  the  usurped  authority  in  Kansas  had  necessarily  ceased,  as 
no  attempts  to  enforce  that  authority  was  then  being  made. 

But  it  is  due  to  President  Buchanan  to  say,  that  during  the  last  two 
years  of  his  administration  a  strange  hallucination  appears  to  have  be 
clouded  his  intellect.  His  whole  energies  were  exerted  to  suppress  the 
rising  spirit  of  liberty,  and  to  make  the  people  believe  that  amid 
civil  war  no  discontent  was  exhibited.  His  assertion  that  the  people 
were  reconciled  to  the  decision  of  the  Court  declaring  human  beings 
property  was  wholly  inexplicable.  The  doctrine  had  long  been  urged  by 
the  slave  power.  It  had  ever  been  repudiated  by  Congress,  and  at  the 
date  of  this  message  it  was  looked  upon  with  deep  detestation  by  every 
Republican.  In  attempting  to  uphold  this  Atheism,  the  Supreme  Court 
had  brought  upon  itself  the  disapprobation  of  the  people,  and  had  dissi 
pated  its  influence. 

The  President  stated  in  his  message,  that  the  people  of  Kan-     ,1S5g 
sas  had  formed  a  new  constitution,  but  argued  that  they  ought  not 
to  be  admitted  until  their  population  should  reach  the  number  of  inhabi 
tants  necessary  to  constitute  a  congressional  district  ;  nor  did  he  appear  . 
conscious  that  while  the  territory  had  a  far  less  number  of  inhabitants 
he  had  urged  its  admission  under  a  slaveholding  constitution,  had  even 
declared  it  a  "  slaveholding  State  as  much  as  Georgia-  or  South  Carolina." 

The  President  presumed  so  much  upon  his  influence  with  the  people, 
that  he  now  urged  the  acquisition  of  Cuba.  He  had  while  minister  at 


422  ANOTHER   ATTEMPT  TO   OBTAIN   CUBA. 

London  met  other  diplomatic  authorities  of  the  United  States  at  Ostend, 
and  united  with  them  in  advising  the  acquisition  of  that  island.  But 
the  advise  was  unheeded,  and  now  he  urged  it  in  his  annual  message. 
There  was  but  one  argument  in  favor  of  this  robbery  of  Spain;  by  wrest 
ing  from  her  that  rich  island,  it  would  increase  the  power  of  slavery  in 
the  Government,  while  it  would  diminish  that  of  freedom  in  a  corre 
sponding  ratio.  But  every  circumstance  tended  to  show  that  the  Presi 
dent's  bias  in  favor  of  slavery  arose  from  a  paralysis  of  his  moral  sensi 
bilities,  and  that  stupid  dogma  of  a  darker  age,  which  forbade  him  to 
connect  moral  duties  with  political  action. 

As  a  further  evidence  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  devotion  to  slavery,  he 
again  recommended  the  payment  of  money  from  the  public  treasury  to 
the  slavedealers  claiming  to  own  the  persons  on  board  the  "  Amistad." 
The  anxiety  of  the  President  and  of  the  slave  power  to  obtain  indemnity 
in  this  case,  appears  to  have  arisen  from  the  desire  to  reverse  the 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  previous  votes  of  Congress  on  the 
subject.  All  of  those  decisions  admitted  that  these  degraded  heathen 
held  from  God  the  same  right  to  live  and  enjoy  liberty  that  white  men 
possessed.  They  went  so  far  as  to  admit  that  in  slaying  the  captain 
and  cook  in  order  to  regain  their  liberty,  the  Africans  committed 
no  crime,  #nd  were  justly  liable  to  no  punishment.  The  natural  con 
clusion  followed,  that  every  slave  has  the  right  to  liberty,  and  if  he 
can  obtain  it  only  by  slaying  his  master,  he  may  do  so  with  impunity. 
This  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  of  the 
Government  at  its  formation,  which  the  slave  power  had  long  labored  to 
subvert. 

1858 ,  At  an  early  period  in  the  session,  Mr.  Slidell,  of  Louisiana, 
from  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  reported  a  bill  for  tne 
acquisition  of  Cuba  ;  and  Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  in  speaking  upon  it, 
gave  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  democratic  party  were  prepared  to 
respond  to  the  President's  view  on  that  subject  ;  but  it  was  equally 
obvious  that  the  northern  members  of  that  party  were  not  prepared  for 
immediate  action  in  favor  of  the  measure  ;  and  after  a  long  debate,  it 
was  laid  aside  and  never  again  brought  up  for  debate. 

The  capture  of  Walker  and  his  followers  in  Nicaragua,  and  bringing 
them  back  to  the  United  States,  appeared  to  be  a  death-blow  to  further 
conquest  of  territory  for  the  extension  of  slavery,  and  the  friends  of  that 
institution  struggled  hard  during  this  session  to  adopt  resolutions  con 
demning  Commodore  Paulding  for  pursuing  Walker  on  land  and  cap 
turing  him  ;  but  their  efforts  failed.  Northern  Democrats  began  to  find 
there  was  a  point  beyond  which  the  people  would  not  be  led  in  support 


A    DEATH-BLOW    TO    SLAVERY    EXTENSION.  423 

of  slavery.  The  resolutions  referred  to  were  not  only  rejected  ;  but 
others  approving  his  conduct,  and  tendering  him  the  thanks  of  Congress 
for  the  faithful  execution  of  his  orders,  were  adopted. 

This  result  appeared  to  extinguish  the  last  ray  of  hope  for  the  ,-1S59 
extension  of  slavery.  Cuba  could  not  be  obtained  ;  conquest  in 
Central  America  could  no  longer  be  hoped  for  ;  and  the  curse  of  human 
bondage  was  limited,  and  its  boundaries  established.  On  every  side  of 
it  liberty,  triumphant  and  prosperous,  was  rapidly  developing  blessings 
to  mankind.  The  age  was  characterized  by  the  progress  of  human 
thought :  Christian  civilization  was  advancing.  Observation,  experience, 
philosophy  and  religion  combined  to  teach  mankind  that  justice  to  all 
men :  the  enjoyment  of  life,  of  liberty  and  happiness  by  all,  was  the 
design  of  the  Creator  and  the  legitimate  object  of  human  governments. 

Justice  began  to  assert  her  prerogative  in  the  Government ;  and  the 
fate  of  slavery  appeared  to  be  written  upon  the  tablet  of  the  heavens 
above  us,  and  of  nature  around  us.  The  times  seemed  propitious  for  the 
introduction  of  practical  measures  to  restore  the  Government  to  its 
original  purpose  by  repealing  those  enactments  that  sustained  the  insti 
tution  of  slavery.  While  the  bill  making  appropriations  for  legislative 
and  judicial  purposes  in  Kansas  was  before  the  Senate,  Mr.  Hale  pro 
posed  an  amendment,  repealing  the  first  section  of  the  law  of  the  last 
session  for  admitting  Kansas  to  the  Union  ;  but  after  a  long  debate,  the 
amendment  was  rejected.  Similar  efforts  were  also  made  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  but  they  also  failed.  And  it  became  evident  that 
the  popular  mind  was  not  yet  fully  prepared  for  positive  action  in  favor 
of  human  rights. 


JOHN    BROWN. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE   RAID    OF   JOHN    BROWN     IN    VIRGINIA MEETING     OF    THE    THIRTY-SIXTH 

CONGRESS — CONTEST   FOR   SPEAKER THE    RIGHTS    OF  THE  SLAVE  STATES 

THE    SENATE  USURPS   JUDICIAL   POWERS — CONFLICT  BETWEEN  FEDERAL  AND 
STATE  RIGHTS THE  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION. 

1859]  DURING. the  civil  war  in  Kansas,  individuals  became  accustomed 
to  scenes  of  blood  and  cruelty.  Among  them  was  John  Brown, 
a  native  of  Massachusetts,  a  man  of  that  ordinary  education  which  it 
is  the  pride  of  that  State  to  bestow  upon  all  her  children.  He  had  a 
large  family  of  sons,  educated  as  their  father  had  been,  and  possessing 
in  a  good  degree  his  qualities  of  mind.  Three  of  these  sons  early  emi 
grated  to  Kansas,  and  when  the  civil  war  broke  out  there,  the  father 
followed  them,  in  order  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  their  situations. 
One  of  the  sons  was  barbarously  murdered  for  his  devotion  to  freedom  : 
and  another  was  captured,  subjected  to  such  abuse  and  suffering,  that 
insanity  relieved  him  from  the  consciousness  of  his  condition. 

These  things  aroused  the  feelings  of  the  father,  who,  attended  by  a 
younger  son,  took  the  field.  He  was  bold  and  unmoved  amid  dangers, 
maintaining  the  exercise  of  his  judgment  under  the  most  trying  circum 
stances.  He  distinguished  himself  on  several  occasions,  and  soon  became 
a  leader,  and  visited  retributive  justice  on  several  of  the  invaders,  some 
of  whom  were  said  to  have  been  executed  under  his  advice  anct 
direction. 

After  the  termination  of  hostilities  in  Kansas,  Brown  returned  to 
Ohio  and  New  England.  He  at  all  times,  wherever  he  went,  urged  upon 
the  people  of  the  free  States  the  positive  duty  of  emancipating  the  slaves 
held  in  bondage  by  our  southern  brethren. 

In  the  course  of  the  spring  and  summer  of  1859,  he  appears  to  have 
engaged  the  services  of  a  number  of  active,  energetic  and  bold  pien. 
He  also  rented  a  small  farm  some  three  miles  from  "  Harpers  Ferry," 
on  the  Maryland  side  of  the  Potomac.     He  and  his  followers  took  pos 
session  of  the  farm  and  dwelling-house  in  September.     In  that  building  ' 
he  deposited   his  arms  and   ammunition.     In  October,  a  number  of 
negroes  suddenly  gathered  to  his  standard  ;  their  masters  were  in  some  * 
instances  seized  by  Brown  and  his  followers,   and  held   as  prisoners, 
while  he  took  possession  of  the  public  buildings  at  "  Harpers  Ferry," 


\ 

HIS    KAID   IN   VIRGINIA.  425 

• 

evidently  intending  to  hold  possession  of  them  while  the  other  portion 
of  his  forces,  with  the  negroes,  should  escape  to,  the  mountains,  where  he 
intended  to  follow  them,  and  thence  escapfc  to  Pennsylvania  :  but  they 
were  soon  surrounded  and  fired  upon.  His  two  sons  and  two  others  of  his 
followers  were  killed,  and  himself  wounded,  when  he  and  his  party 
surrendered.  The  slaves  returned  to  their  masters,  and  those  who  were 
expected  to  lead  them  into  the  mountains  fled. 

The  incident  appeared  to  strike  Virginia  and  the  whole  Soiith  with 
astonishment.  Throughout  that  State  troops  were  called  into  service. 
Arms  were  prepared  and  ammunition  obtained,  while  wonder  and  amaze 
ment  sat  on  every  countenance. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  caught  the  alarm  ;  called  out  the 
militia  of  the  District  of  Columbia  ;  sent  "United  States  troops  to 
"  Harpers  Ferry  ;"  ordered  arms  and  ammunition  to  be  placed  in  the 
City  Hall  of  Washington,  where  they  could  bq  obtained  on  the  shortest 
notice,  in  case  the  slaves  should  rise  ;  while  the  governor  and  people  of 
Virginia  appeared  to  regard  themselves  as  in  the  midst  of  an  extensive 
slave  insurrection. 

There  was  at  that  time  an  election  pending  in  New  York  and  in  New 
Jersey.  Members  of  the  democratic  party,  thinking  that  great  odium 
would  attach  to  those  who  sympathized  with  Brown,  now  sought  to  in 
volve  the  republican  p'arty  in  the  transaction.  A  committee  of  demo 
cratic  gentlemen  in  the  city  of  New  York  were  appointed  to  ascertain 
and  report  facts  concerning  this  invasion  ;  and  the  democratic  press, 
at  all  times  licentious,  now  casting  off  all  restraint,  attempted  to 
involve  the  best  men  of  the  nation  in  this  raid,  charging  them  with 
having  stimulated  Brown  to  make  an  attempt  to  free  the  negroes  of 
that  State. 

Brown,  wounded  and  a  prisoner,  was  visited  by  Senator  ,.185g 
Mason,  of  Virginia,  and  Hon.  C.  L.  Vallandigham,  of  Ohio, 
who  endeavored  to  draw  from  him  matter  that  would  implicate  Repub 
licans.  Their  conversations  with  him  were  published,  professing  to  impli 
cate  the  author.  *  He  at  once  replied  in  a  card  published  in  Philadel 
phia,  where  he  happened  to  be  on  business,  declaring  that  the  murder 
of  Brown's  son  in  Kansas,  and  fhe  barbarities  exercised  in  that  territory 
under  democratic  influence  had  impelled  Brown  to  pursue  the  course 
which  he  had  adopted.  In  response  to  this  card,  an  advertisement  ap. 
peared  in  the  papers  published  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  promising  a 
bounty  of  ten  thousand  dollars  to  any  one  who  would  bring  the  person 
of  the  author  to  that  city  alive  ;  or  five  thousand  for  his  head. 

In  the  meantime  Governor  Wise,  of  Virginia,  and  other  southern 


426  THIRTY-SIXTH   CONGRESS   CONVENES. 

• 

men  of  distinction  endeavored  to  magnify  this  transaction  and  give  it 
importance.  A  number  of  the  followers  of  Brown  were  captured,  and 
all  of  these,  as  well  as  Bro\*n  himself,  were  tried  for  treason  against  the 
State  of  Virginia,  convicted,  and  executed. 

The  committee  appointed  by  the  democratic  meeting  in  New  York, 
made  report,  asserting  in  substance  that  Senator  Hale,  the  Hon.  Gerritt 
Smith,  the  author,  and  others,  were  involved  in  the  insurrection  which 
Brown  had  excited.  But  on  receiving  official  notice  to  appear  before  the 
judiciary  to  answer  for  the  libel,  they  acknowledged  the  error,  paid  costs 
and  counsel  fees  ;  and  legal  proceedings  against  them  were  discontinued. 

The  Hon.  William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York,  having  returned  from  a 
European  tour,  soon  found  that  a  bounty  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  was 
bidden  in  the  papers  of  Richmond  for  the  delivery  of  his  head  in  that 
city.  For  these  manifestations  of  barbarism,  suited  only  to  the  darker 
ages,  the  author  heard  no  explanation. 

1859  It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the  thirty-sixth  Congress 

assembled.  A  large  majority  in  the  House  of  representatives  were 
Republicans.  They  were  men  of  talents  and  patriotism  ;  but  were 
wanting  in  that  experience  which  was  necessary  to  take  the  proper  ad 
vantages  of  their  position.  Most  of  them  had  been  elected  for  the  first 
time.  Members  of  the  old  whig  organization  had  been  educated  in 
the  belief  that  the  avowal  of  no  principles,  and  the  assuming  of  no  defi 
nite  position,  constituted  the  highest  policy. 

Then*  first  duty  was  to  elect  a  Speaker  ;  but  they  selected  no  candi 
date  before  entering  upon  the  ballot,  and  instead  of  supporting  an  in 
dividual,  as  many  as  six  candidates  were  voted  for. 

Soon  as  the  result  of  the  first  ballot  had  been  declared,  Mr.  Clark,  of 
Missouri,  a  democratic  slaveholder,  with  the  apparent  intention  of  em 
barrassing  the  Republicans,  insisted  on  presenting  a  resolution  declaring 
that  "  the  doctrines  contained  in  a  book  entitled  '  The  Impending  Crisis 
of  the  South,  how  to  meet  it,'  written  by  one  Hilton  R.  Helper,  of  North 
Carolina,  are  insurrectionary,  hostile  to  the  domestic  peace  and  tranquil 
lity  of  the  whole  country  ;  and  .that  no  member  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  who  has  recommended  that  work  is  fit  to  be  Speaker  of  this 
House." 

The  work  referred  to  consisted  merely  of  a  compendium  of  facts 
showing  the  effects  of  slavery  upon  the  prosperity  of  the  southern  States, 
and  had  been  recommended  by  nearly  every  Republican  member  of  the 
previous  Congress  ;  and  Mr.  Clark  proceeded  to  enforce  the  propriety  of 
the  resolution  by  a  speech  ;  while  northern  members  insisted  on  pro 
ceeding  with  the  ballot. 


"THE  IMPENDING  CBISIS." 

But  the  arrogance  of  Mr.  Clark  was  equal  to  that  of  his  proposition 
setting  at  defiance  all  parliamentary^order  as  well  as  propriety  ;  he  pro 
ceeded  to  represent  the  book  as  advising  the  people  of  the  "  Union  to 
stop  at  nothing  until  they  put  out  of  public  life,  disfranchised,  and  mur 
dered  a  large  portion  of  the  inhabitants." 

This  unfounded  imputation  appears  to  have  alarmed  Mr.  Kilgore,  of 
Indiana,  who  interrupted  Mr.  Clark,  denying  all-  sympathy  with  the 
doctrine  set  forth  in  the  book,  and  begged  Mr.  Clark  to  withhold 
further  remark  until  gentlemen  who  had  recommended  the  work  could 
explain  their  action,  protesting  that  he  and  his  people  were  con 
servative. 

This  indecent  haste  of  Mr.  Kilgore  to  manifest  his  own  pusilanirnity 
provoked  the  contempt  of  Mr.  Clark,  who  merely  replied  that  he  was 
"  glad  the  gentleman  was  fleeing  from  the  wrath  to  come."  Mr.  Farns- 
worth,  of  Illinois,  appeared  anxious  to  relieve  Mr.  Kilgore,  and  called 
for  the  reading  of  the  work,  saying  he  had  no  doubt  that  it  contained 
facts  that  would  edify  both  Mr.  Clark  and  himself ;  but  Mr.  Clark 
would  neither  read  nor  suffer  any  other  member  to  read  any  part  of  the 
book  which  he  was  so  earnestly  condemning.  But  Hon.  Clark  B. 
Cochrane,  of  New  York,  took  occasion  to  say  that  he  utterly  condemned 
the  sentiments  of  the  look. 

Mr.  Clark,  finding  Republicans  timid  and  alarmed,  now  firmly  per 
sisted  in  his  purpose.  Mr.  Kellogg,  of  Illinois,  said  that  his  name 
appeared  among  those  who  recommended  the  book  ;  declared  he  did 
not  know  whether  the  sentiments  were  right  or  wrong  ;  but  if  the  House 
would  adjourn  he  would  be  prepared  on  the  following  day  to  sustain  or 
repudiate  the  doctrines  of  theVorkt 

On  the  following  morning,  Mr.  Clark  read  a  circular  .-1859 
dated  at  New  York,  and  signed  by  gentlemen  from  various 
States  commending  the  work,  and  advising  its  general  circulation. 
Then  followed  a  certificate  cordially  indorsing  the  opinions,  and  com 
mending  the  enterprise  set  forth  in  the  circular.  This  was  signed  by 
about  seventy  members  of  the  previous  Congress  and  was  followed 
by  a  similar  commendation  signed  by  Horace  Greeley,  John  Jay,  Thur- 
low  Weed,  Win.  C.  Bryant,  Abram  Wakeman,  and  several  other 
gentlemen. 

Then  followed  several  extracts  from  the  work  showing  its  character- 
Exhibiting  : 

1st.  The  destructive  effects  of  slavery  upon  the  southern  States. 
2d.  The  ignorance  of  the  southern  people. 

3d.  The  barbarous  character  of  the  slave  trade. 


4:28          A  SOUTHERN  BOOK  FOR  SOUTHERN  USE. 

4th.  The  remedy — proposing  : 

1.  A  thorough  political  organization  of  non-slaveholders  in  the 

South. 

2.  To  elect  no  slaveholder  to  office. 

3.  To  extend  no  patronage  to  slaveholding  merchants,  phy 

sicians,  lawyers,  hotel-keepers,  or  mechanics. 

4.  No   affiliation  with   slaveholders  in  religion,    morals,    or 

politics. 

5.  No  hiring  of  slaves. 

6.  Discountenancing  all  pro-slavery  newspapers. 

7.  To  extend  patronage  to  non-slaveholders  only. 

The  work  was  written  by  a  southern  man  and  addressed  to  southern 
men,  and  the  object  of  those  who  recommended  its  circulation  was  to 
introduce  it  North  as  well  as  South.  This  synopsis  of  the  work  being 
read,  Mr.  Clark  spoke  in  the  most  impassioned  language  condemnatory 
of  that  part  which  recommended  non-slaveholders  to  hold  no  commu 
nion,  religiously,  morally,  or  politically,  with  those  who  held  their  fellow- 
men  in  bondage,  and  thus  to  destroy  the  slave  interest,  drive  out  slave 
labor,  and  dedicate  the  country  to  freedom.  He  closed  by  declaring  his 
intention  to  support  no  man  for  Speaker  who  had  recommended  that 
work. 

Neither  the  mover  of  the  resolution  nor  any  other  slaveholder  or  ally 
of  the  slave  power  asserted  that  the  work  contained  anything  false,  or 
anything  that  was  morally  wrong,  or  unjust ;  but  they  insisted  that  it 
was  opposed  to  the  interests  of  oppression,  to  the  policy  of  the  South. 
Opposed  to  injustice,  and  wrong,  and  crim$.  Yet,  although  the  support 
ers  of  slavery  commenced  this  agitation  atid  continued  it  for  many 
weeks,  they  charged  the  whole  debate  upon  northern  men. 

Hon.  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  was  the  prominent  candidate  of  the 
Republicans.  He  was  a  man  of  education,  of  talents,  and  had  the  ad 
vantage  of  some  experience  as  a  statesman ;  but  unfortunately  he  had 
been  educated  in  the  school  of  northern  diffidence,  timidity,  and  submis 
sion  to  slaveholding  dictation.  He  appeared  to  regard  it  the  duty  of 
Congress  not  only  to  sustain,  uphold,  and  protect  slavery,  but  also  to 
treat  it -with  respect.  Gentlemanly  and  kind  in  his  deportment,  he  had 
not  learned  the  necessity  for  entertaining  decided  opinions,  of  uttering 
them  boldly  and  adhering  to  them  firmly  when  right  and  abandoning 
them  freely  when  wrong.  The  book  contained  nothing  that  did  not  , 
commend  it  to  his  judgment  and  conscience  when  he  signed  the  recom 
mendation  ;  but  now  southern  men  assailed  him  and  determined  to 
oppose  his  election  to  the  office  of  Speaker,  because  he  had  honestly 


TIMIDITY   AND   BOLDNESS    CONTRASTED.  429 

•jf 

expressed  the  convictions  of  his  own  mind.  Instead  of  boldly  maintain 
ing  in  a  frank  and  dignified  manner,  his  integrity  and  the  truthful 
ness  of  the  work  which  he  had  recommended,  he  appears  to  have  quailed 
under  the  taunts,  the  sneers  and  denunciations  of  slaveholders  and  their 
democratic  allies.  When  thus  assailed  for  doing  a  just  and  creditable 
act,  he  said  he  had  never  seen  a  copy  of  the  work ;  declared  that  he  had 
never  used  such  language  towards  southern  men  as  they  had  towards 
him  ;  asserted  that  the  republican  party  had  never  during  his  service 
in  Congress  introduced  the  subject  of  slavery  ;  and  he  trusted  they 
never  would  ;  and  for  himself  proclaimed  that  he  never  would  trespass 
upon  the  rights  of  any  southern  citizen. 

No  sooner  had  Mr.  Sherman  resumed  his  seat  than  Mr.  Leake, 
of  Virginia,  in  true  slaveholding  style,  characterized  Mr.  Sher 
man  as  the  "  abolition  candidate  ;"  demanded  whether  he  indorsed  or  re 
pudiated  the  doctrines  avowed  in  the  work  alluded  to  ;  said  he  wished 
to  hold  the  candidate  up  to  face  the  music.  To  this  insolence  Mr.  Sher 
man  submitted  in  silence. 

The  debate  on  slavery  now  became  general.  The  repeal  of  the  Mis 
souri  Compromise,  the  civil  war  in  Kansas,  the  raid  of  John  Brown, 
w^re  ail  discussed  ;  and  Mr.  Keitt,  of  South  Carolina,  assuming  that 
Hon.  William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York,  was  a  prominent  candidate  for 
President,  criticised  several  of  that  gentleman's  speeches,  and  arrogantly 
demanded  of  northern  members  whether  they  indorsed  the  doctrines 
which  Mr.  Seward  had  avowed  ? 

Hon.  Thaddeus  Stevens,  of  Pennsylvania,  obtained  the  floor.  He  was 
a  man  of  unusual  powers  of  analysis,  of  mature  age,  of  more  experience 
than  any  other  member  of  the  House,  and,  with  all  these  qualifications, 
he  was  bold  and  fearless.  He  appears  to  have  become  impatient  at  the 
faltering  timidity  of  his  republican  friends,  and  referring  to  the  pro 
tracted  debate,  and  to  the  tone  and  style  in  which  it  had  been  conducted, 
said  he  did  not  blame  southern  men  for  the  coarse  they  were  pursu 
ing,  "  nor  fpr  the  language  of  intimidation,  nor  for  the  threat  of  rending 
God's  universe  from  turret  to  foundation  ;"  asserted  they  had  tried  this 
course  fifty  times,  and  fifty  times  they  had  found  weak  and  recreant  trem 
blers  in  the  North  who  were  ready  to  act  from  such  intimidation.  He 
proceeded  to  say  that  all  debate  was  out  of  order,  and  that  no  business 
or  proposition  ought  to  be  presented  to  divert  the  members  from  electing 
their  Speaker. 

Mr.  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  attempted  'to  interrupt  Mr.  Stevens,  who 
said  he  would  not  be  interrupted  ;  but  Mr.  Crawford,  assuming  a  mild 
tone,  was  permitted  to  proceed.  He  soon  became  very  defiant,  intiniat- 


430  SECESSION   CONDITIONALLY   PROCLAIMED. 

ing  that  northern  men  dare  not  avow  their  sentiments  ;  declared  that 
southern  members  wanted  to  know  them.  If  they  were  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery,  he  assured  gentlemen  there  would  be  no  shrinking — no 
cowardly  falling  back  of  southern  men  from  the  maintenance  of  their 
rights. 

As  Mr.  Crawford  closed,  Mr.  Stevens,  who  had  been  listening  very 
Attentively,  broke  forth  in  mock  admiration,  saying,  "  that  is  right !  that 
3B  the  way  they  frightened  us  before."  At  this  Republicans  applauded  ; 
and  southern  men,  stung  by  the  imperturbable  coolness  of  Stevens, 
sprang  to  their  feet,  and  some  rushed  towards  him  as  if  intending  per 
sonal  injury  ;  but  he  was  instantly  surrounded  by  friends,  and  as 
soon  as  his  voice  could  be  heard,  he  added,  "  now  you  see  exactly  what  it 
is,  and  what  it  has  always  been." 

The  newspapers  generally  applauded  the  boldness  of  Mr.  Stevens, 
and  most  of  them  were  severe  upon  all  those  who  appeared  to  hesitate 
and  falter  during  this  struggle.  Individuals  felt  restive  under  these 
criticisms,  and  much  time  was  spent  by  members  in  defining  their 
positions.  But  it  is  an  historical  curiosity  that  no  member  of  the  repub 
lican  party  avowed  the  doctrines  enunciated  by  the  united  voice  of  that 
organization  at  the  time  of  its  formation.  Nor  did  any  Democrat  assert 
the  doctrines  proclaimed  by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  adopted  as  those 
of  the  democratic  party.  Both  appeared  timid  as  to  the  avowal  of 
truth  or  the  assertion  of  principle.  Most  Republicans  appeared  anxious 
to  excuse  themselves  for  having  recommended  the  book.  But  the  com 
plaints  of  southern  men  began  to  assume  a  definite  form,  and  members 
distinctly  avowed  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  would  follow  the  election 
of  a  northern  President. 

This  threat  of  leaving  the  free  States  to  themselves  whenever  they 
should  refuse  to  remain  political  vassals  of  the  South  gave  evidence  of 
the  southern  policy,  and  distinctly  foreshadowed  the  approaching 
rebellion. 

1859-|  Southern  statesmen  were  unanimous  in  proclaiming  the  doc 
trine  that  the  Federal  Government  was  bound  by  the  Constitution 
to  protect  and  defend  slavery  in  the  Territories,  while  most  northern 
members  faltered  in  their  course,  hesitating  to  avow  the  distinctive  prin 
ciples  of  their  party.  Some  leading  men  were  endeavoring  to  prepare 
the  minds  of  Republicans  to  disavow  all  doctrines  as  the  basis  of  party 
organization,  while  others  endeavored  to  show  that  the  republican  party 
had  no  common  principle  of  action.  Hon.  Thomas  Corwin  had  long 
served  in  public  life,  possessed  remarkable  powers  as  an  orator,  but 
he  adhered  to  the  Whig  school  of  politicians,  which  avoided  all  decla- 


A  PEOPHECY   QUOTED.  431 

ration  of  principles :  Yet  he  had  been  elected  upon  a  distinct 
avowal  that  he  held  the  doctrines  enunciated  by  the  Republicans  at 
Philadelphia.  Such,  too,  was  the  case  with  all  those  members  who  were 
striving  to  induce  Republicans  to  abandon  their  principles  as  well  as 
those  who  denied  that  the  party  had  distinctive  principles.  These  men 
had  all  been  elected  upon  their  avowal  of  the  very  doctrines  which  they 
now  repudiated.  Mr.  Corwin  declared  himself  as  much  of  an  exponent 
of  republican  doctrines  as  any  other  man,  and  proclaimed  them  to  be  the 
same  as  those  avowed  by  Mr.  Fillmore  ;  but  asserted  that  the  party 
united  upon  no  principle,  apparently  unconscious  that  the  doctrines  of 
the  party  were  proclaimed  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  those  who  formed 
and  constituted  it,  and  were  carefully  placed  on  record  where  they  re 
main,  and  will  continue  in  all  coming  time. 

Mr.  Cox,  of  Ohio,  replied  to  Mr.  Corwin,  and  quoted  a  speech  deliv 
ered  some  eleven  years  previously,  by  the  writer,  while  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  in  reply  to  threats  then  thrown  out  in 
favor  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  wherein  he  said  :  "  When  that 
contest  shall  come  ;  when  the  thunder  shall  roll  and  the  lightnings  flash  ; 
when  the  slaves  of  the  South  chall  rise  in  the  spirit  of  freedom,  actuated 
by  the  soul-stirring  emotion  that  they  are  men,  destined  to  immortality, 
entitled  to  the  rights  which  God  bestowed  upon  them  :  When  the  mas 
ters  shall  turn  pale  and  tremble ;  when  their  dwellings  shall  smoke  and 
dismay  sit  on  each  countenance  ;  then,  sir,  I  do  not  say  we  will  laugh  at 
your  calamity,  and  mock  when  your  fear  cometh  :  But  I  do  say,  the. 
lovers  of  our  race  will  then  stand  forth  and  exert  the  kgitimate  powers  of 
this  Government  for  freedom.  We  shall  then  have  constitutional  power 
to  act  for  the  good  of  our  country  and  to  do  justice  to  the  slave :  WE  WILL 
THEN  STRIKE  OFF  THE  SHACKLES  FROM  HIS  LIMBS.  The  Government  will 
then  have  power  to  act  between  slavery  and  freedom,  AND  IT  CAN  THEN 

MAKE    PEACE    BY   GIVING   LIBERTY  TO   THE   SLAVES  t     And   let   me  tell  yOU, 

Mr.  Speaker,  that  time  hastens :  The  President  is  exerting  a  power  that 
will  hurry  it  on  ;  and  I  shall  hail  it  as  the  approaching  dawn  of  that 
millennium  which  I  know  must  come  upon  the  earth."* 

Mr.  Cox,  apparently  believing  that  he  was  rendering  the  slave 
power  a  service  by  such  exhibitions  of  truth,  next  called  on  the  Hon. 
John  A.  Bingharn,  of  Ohio,  to  state  whether  he  agreed  with  Mr.  Corwin 
in  regard  to  the  fugitive  slave  act  ?  That  gentleman  had  served  some 
four  years  in  Congress,  and  had  fttained  the  reputation  of  an  able  legis- 

*  This  language,  which  now  appears  so  prophetic,  was  uttered  eleven  years  before  the  commence 
ment  of  the  rebellion,  and  thirteen  years  prior  to  the  President's  proclamation  of  emancipation. 
Time  has  demonstrated  its  perfect  accuracy. 


4:32  TWO    INDEPENDENT    MEMBP^ES    SPEAK. 

lator  and  an.  accomplished  scholar.  He  was  also  a  man  of  high  moral 
character,  distinguished  for  his  probity  and  candor,  and  now,  in  reply  to 
Mr.  Cox,  he  very  frankly  declared  that  he  dissented  from  Mr.  Gorwin's 
views  in  relation  to  the  fugitive  slave  act,  said  that  he  utterly  repudiated 
it  as  entirely  unconstitutional. 

Mr.  Cox  next  turned  to  Mr.  Sherman,  the  candidate  for  Speaker,  and 
commenced  interrogating  him.  That  gentleman  refused  to  answer, 
although  he  must  have  known  that  Mr.  Banks,  four  years  previously, 
had  by  his  open,  frank  and  undisguised  answers  when  thus  interrogated 
secured  his  election  as  Speaker. 

debate  -continued  with  occasional  ballots  until  the  23d 


1859] 

December,  when  Mr.  Farnsworth,  of  Illinois,  varied  the  scene 

somewhat.  He  was  a  lawyer  by  profession  and  had  attained  a  fair 
standing  at  the  bar,  was  an  early  friend  of  the  slave,  and  accustomed  to 
think  and  act  for.  himself.  He  commenced  his  address  by  assuring  the 
House  that  he  should  not  deliver  a  speech  in  regard  to  Helper's  book. 
He  stated  that  his  constituents  read  suck  books  as  they  pleased,  and  recom 
mended  such,  as  they  thought  proper,  and  sold  them  to  those  who  wanted  to 
buy.  He  declared  that  he  held  such  right,  and  now  gave  southern  gen 
tlemen  due  notice  that  he  should  exercise  it  without  asking  permission 
of  them  or  of  anybody  else.  He  then  read  extracts  from  a  democratic 
paper,  which  purported  to  have  been  taken  from  an  essay  in  favor  of 
the  African  slave  trade,  and  inquired  of  southern  gentlemen  whether 
they  were  in  favor  of  restoring  that  traffic. 

Mr.  Miles,  of  South  Carolina,  declared  that  under  favorable  circum 
stances  he  would  vote  to  restore  it.*  Other  gentlemen  declared  their  wish 
to  repeal  the  law  prohibiting  the  slave  trade,  saying  it  was  unconstitutional. 

At  this  point,  Mr.  Stanton,  of  Ohio,  interrupted  Mr.  Farnsworth  to 
say  that  so  far  as  Helper's  book  justified  slaves  in  rising  in  insurrection 
he  utterly  abhorred  and  detested  it.  Mr.  Stanton  did  not  explain 
whether  he  denied  the  primal  rights  of  all  men  to  liberty,  or  whether  he 
intended  to  say  that  when  a  man  is  once  enslaved  it  is  his  duty  -to  remain 
a  slave  rather  than  assert  his  own  liberty.  But  this  faltering  of  northern 
members  ;  this  anxiety  to  gain  southern  favor  by  representing  slaves  as 
morally  bound  to  remain  in  bondage  when  they  could  escape  by  insur 
rection,  had  the  effect  to  strengthen  the  slaveholders  in  their  opinions 
regarding  secession,  while  it  paralyzed  the  influence  of  the  republican 
organization. 

Mr.  English,  of  Indiana,  a  Democrat,  sought  to  render  assistance  to 

*  At  the  time  of  writing  this  work  (1863)  Mr.  Miles  was  acting  as  a  brigadier-general  in  the  Con 
federate  service. 


SECESSION   MORE  BOLDLY   AVOWED.  433 

the  South  by  exhibiting  the  proceedings  of  a  religious  meeting  held  in 
Chicago,  in  which  slavery  was  declared  to  be  a  sin  against  God  and  a 
crime  against  mankind,  and  churches  were  advised  to  hold  no  fellowship 
with  persons  guilty  of  those  iniquities. 

The  solemn  truths  on  which  the  Government  was  founded  were  now 
regarded  by  Democrats  as  endangering  the  Union.  No  one  seemed  to 
hold  those  who  threatened  its  dissolution  responsible  for  the  crime  which 
they  proposed  to  perpetrate  :  On  the  contrary,  the  democratic  party 
asserted  the  flagrant  falsehood,  that  the  men  who  sustained  the  Con 
stitution,  the  rights  of  the  States  and  of  the  people,  were  responsible 
for  the  action  of  southern  traitors  who  were  daily  threatening  to  secede 
from  the  Union. 

For  the  apparent  purpose  of  intimidating  northern  members, 
a  preamble  and  resolution  adopted  by  the  Legislature  of  South 
Carolina  was  read,  as  follows  : — 

"  Whereas,  The  fraternal  relations  are  dissolved  between  the  North  and 
the  South,  the  slaveholding  States  demand  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  to 
be  consummated  :  Therefore,  be  it  resolved  that  $200,000  be  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Governor,  to  be  used  at  his  discretion  according  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  times." 

Amid  these  incidents  the  republican  candidate  for  Speaker  remained 
silent,  apparently  wanting  the  moral  courage  to  avow  the  doctrines  on 
which  the  Government  had  been  founded,  and  which  now  should  have 
constituted  the  watchword,  the  rallying  cry  of  the  party  to  whom  he 
looked  for  support.  But  in  doing  this  he  merely  followed  the  practice 
of  the  former  whig  party. 

While  Republicans  were  thus  contending  against  the  common  foe 
without  any  apparent  reference  to  the  great  truths  which  our  fathers 
declared  to  be  "  self-evident,"  they  were  saved  from  defeat  by  difficulties 
equally  great  in  the  democratic  party  :  One  portion  of  that  organiza 
tion  had  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  restoring  the  African  slave  trade, 
while  another  portion  regarded  that  policy  as  destructive  to  the  party. 

The  debate,  with  occasional  ballotings,  continued.  On  the  23d  De 
cember  Mr.  Smith,  of  Virginia,  delivered  an  elaborate  speech  in  support 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Supreme  Court  proclaimed  in  the  case  of  Dred 
Scott,  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  did  not  refer  to  colored 
men.  He  spoke  of  the  doctrines  avowed  by  John  Quincy  Adams,  and 
of  the  effort  to  censure  him,  saying  he  (Smith)  was  not  then  a  member,* 

*  Smith  was  a  member,  as  shown  by  the  journal  and  report  of  debates,  and  received  a  most 
withering  rebuke  at  the  hands  of  the  venerable  Ex-President,  which  or.e  would  suppose  he  would 
not  have  forgotten. 

28 


434:  SECESSION   DISCUSSED. 

but  that  he  understood  Mr.  Adams  agreed  to  vex  the  South  no  more 
with  petitions  if  the  resolution  of  censure  were  laid  on  the  table.* 

On  the  30th  December  a  general  debate  upon  northern  rights  and 
southern  aggression  arose,  when  Mr.  Hickman,  of  Pennsylvania,  a 
Democrat,  spoke  plainly  and  strongly  in  favor  of  justice  and  liberty,  as 
claimed  by  the  people  of  the  free  States. 

Mr.  Boyce,  of  South  Carolina,  a  man  of  candor  and  boldness,  frankly 
met  the  doctrines  of  the  republican  party  as  enunciated  in  then*  platform 
at  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Stanton,  of  Ohio,  instead  of  maintaining  the  moral,  religious 
and  philosophical  truth  that  all  men  hold  from  the  Creator  equal  rights 
to  live,  acquire  knowledge  and  prepare  for  heaven,  insisted  there  was  no 
denial  of  the  legality  of  slavery  in  the  States,  apparently  admitting  the 
authority  of  State  Legislatures  to  modify,  repeal  or  reverse  the  Will  of 
God  as  manifested  in  the  laws  of  nature. 

The  doctrine  of  secession  was  again  discussed,  the  physical  power 
of  the  North  and  South  compared,  with  the  apparent  expectation  that 
their  relative  strength  would  be  tested  at  no  distant  day.  Mr.  Boyce, 
declaring  that  the  first  campaign  would  cost  the  North  a  hundred 
million  dollars,  asserted  that  the  free  States  could  not  raise,  that  amount 
of  money. 

At  length,  many  Republicans  who  had  been  elected  upon  well- 
defined  principles,  which  every  member  was  expected  to  maintain, 
now  faltered  and  pusillanirnously  submitted  to  hear  them  assailed  and 
ridiculed  without  reply.  Indeed,  during  this  contest  it  became  evi 
dent  that  a  strong  influence  in  Congress  was  exerted  in  favor  of  the 
doctrine  that  no  party  could  be  sustained  upon  principles  of  immutable 
truth  and  justice.  Hence  it  followed  that  some  were  determined  to  vote 
for  no  man  who  had  rendered  himself  obnoxious  to  the  slave  power  by 
recommending  Helper's  book  ;  and  Mr.  Sherman,  regarding  himself  shut 
out  from  avowing  truth  and  justice  as  the  basis  on  which  he  stood, 
and  finding  it  impossible  to  nnite  the  party  in  his  support,  very  pro 
perly  withdrew :  And  although  the  slave  power  had  lost  its  ability 
to  elect  a  Speaker,  it  dictated  to  the  friends  of  liberty  whom  they  should 
NOT  elect. 

1860 }         The  Republicans  in  the  House  of  Representatives  now  returned 
to  the  ancient  whig  policy  of  selecting  a  candidate  not  for  his 

*  Mr.  Smith  is  not  only  unsustained  in  this  respect  by  the  record,  but  is  palpably  "contradicted  by 
it.  The  report  of  the  debate  shows  that  Mr.  Gilmer,  who  presented  the  resolution,  publicly  pro 
posed  to  withdraw  the  resolution  of  censure  if  Mr.  Adams  would  withdraw  the  petition. 
Mr.  Adams  publicly  and  solemnly  refused,  and  the  trial  proceeded,  and  was  continued  until 
the  slaveholders  abandoned  it. 


A   SPEAKER   ELECTED.  435 

well-known  qualifications,  nor  on  account  of  his  attachment  to  principle, 
but  for  the  reason  that  his  doctrines  were  unknown,  and  his  qualifications 
had  not  been  tested. 

The  choice  fell  on  Mr.  Pennington,  of  New  Jersey,  a  gentlemanly, 
good  man,  unknown  to  the  public  outside  of  his  State  ;  a  man  who  was 
believed  never  to  have  expressed  his  devotion  to  the  primal  truths  on 
which  the  republican  party  was  based. 

On  the  first  day  of  February,  upon  the  34th  ballot,  Mr.  Pennington 
was  elected.  This  result  was  purchased,  however,  by  the  surrender  of 
the  doctrines  and  policy  adopted  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Banks  in  1856, 
when,  standing  upon  principle,  with  only  ninety-two  members,  they  con 
strained  their  opponents  to  yield  ;  and  elected  the  candidate  of  all  others 
the  most  obnoxious  to  the  slave  power,  while  the  present  Congress,  with 
at  least  one  hundred  and  seventeen -professedly  republican  members,  were 
compelled  to  give  up  their  candidate  and  take  one  less  objectionable  to 
the  South. 

While  the  contest  was  progressing  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
Mr.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  presented  to  the  consideration  of  the  Senate  a 
resolution,  directing  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  to  report  a  bill  for 
the  protection  of  States  against  invasion  by  authority  or  by  the  inhabit 
ants  of  other  States. 

On  debating  this  resolution,  Mr.  Douglas  insisted  that  the  doctrines 
of  the  republican  party  tended  directly  to  create  invasion  and  civil  war. 
To  this  Mr.  Eessenden,  of  Maine,  responded  that,  as  slave  labor  and  free 
labor  were  antagonisms,  the  promotion  of  one  must  necessarily  tend  to 
the  destruction  of  the  other,  and  the  idea  that  the  Federal  Government 
should  pass  a  law  to  prevent  discussion  among  the  people,  would  not 
enhance  the  prospect  of  Mr.  Douglas'  election  to  the  Presidency. 

Mr.  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  charged  the  Legislatures  of  republican 
States  with  unconstitutional  legislation  for  the  protection  of  their  free 
colored  citizens.  Those  laws  were  denounced  as  treasonable.  The 
republican  platform,  doctrines  and  policy  were  denounced  by  Mr.  Toombs 
as  destructive  of  slavery.  But  that  Senator,  nor  any  other  member  of 
either  House,  appeared  conscious  that  when  the  people  of  the  free  States 
had  petitioned  Congress  for  laws  to  protect  free  colored  persons,  that 
body,  under  slaveholding  influence,  had  returned  for  answer  that  each 
State  was  bound  to  enact  its  own  laws  for  that  purpose* 

yhese  assaults  upon  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  Government  were 

*  Mr.  Toombs  did  not  appear  conscious  that  those  laws  for  the  protection  of  free  colored  citizens 
had  been  enacted  at  the  suggestion  and  by  recommendation  of  Congress,  as  appears  in  former 
chapters. 


436  THE    OCCASION   FOR   SECESSION   STATED. 

made  in  the  presence  of  republican  Senators,  several  of  whom  were 
regarded  as  candidates  for  the  Presidency.  Yet  not  one  of  them 
attempted  a  vindication  of  those  "  self-evident  truths,"  which  were  held 
so  sacred  by  Jefferson,  and  Adams,  and  Franklin,  and  their  associates. 
But  Mr.  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  met  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Douglas  more 
fully  and  emphatically  than  even  Mr.  Fessenden  had  done.  He  denied 
the  authority  of  Congress  to  pass  laws  for  the  punishment  of  unlawful 
combinations,  declaring  that  the  States  held  the  only  power  over  that 
subject,  while  the  Federal  Government  possessed  authority  to  suppress 
insurrections. 

Mr.  Hunter,  of  Virginia,  took  occasion  very  kindly  to  remind  the 
eastern  States  of  their  dependence  upon  the  West,  and  of  the  difficulties 
which  those  sections  must  encounter  in  case  of  separation.  He  admitted 
slavery  to  be  a  relic  of  former  ages,  characteristic  of  a  crude  state  of 
society,  which  would  disappear  before  the  progress  of  Christian  civiliza 
tion  ;  but  denied  that  the  North  could  do  anything  with  the  slaves  if 
emancipated,  and  he  then  proceeded  to  discuss  the  approaching  rebellion. 
And  as  northern  members  continued  to  hesitate  and  falter  and  remain 
silent,  slaveholders  became  arrogant  and  overbearing. 

Mr.  Browii,  of  Mississippi,  offered  resolutions  declaring  it  the  duty  of 
territorial  governments  to  provide  for  the  protection  of  all  kinds  of 
property,  recognized  by  the  Constitution  and  held  under  the  laws  of  the 
United  States.  He  also  introduced  a  bill  declaring  slaves  to  be  property. 

But  Mr.  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts,  met  the  threats  of  dissolving  the 
Union  put  forth  by  southern  Senators,  deliberately  inquiring  if  there 
were  any  other  explanations  of  these  attempts  at  intimidation  than  the 
plain  import  of  the  language  used  ?  Southern  men  were  silent,  and  he 
proceeded  to  state  the  condition  of  the  North  and  the  South,  and  closed 
by  saying,  the  "  Union  must  and  shall  be  preserved." 

But  this  declaration  merely  provoked  further  threats  from  southern 
Senators,  who  declared  that  the  election  of  Mr.  Sherman  to  the  office 
of  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  would  be  good  and'  sufficient 
cause  for  southern  Senators  and  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
to  leave  Congress  and  return  to  their  constituents. 

The  language  of  Mr.  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  used  in  a  public  address  in 
that  State,  was  now  explained  by  that  gentleman  as  intending  to  assert 
the  duty  of  the  people  of  Mississippi  to  withdraw  from  the  Union  when 
ever  the  enemies  of  slavery  should  obtain  possession  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment.  In  these  supercilious  threats  the  Democrats  of  the  North  seemed 
to  concur  ;  not  one  of  that  party  objected  to,  or  uttered  a  protest 
against  them .  Indeed,  they  appeared  anxious  to  convince  the  slave- 


OCCASION   FOK   SECESSION   DEFINED.  437 

holders  that,  whenever  their  party  should  come  into  power,  these 
demands  should  be  complied  with.  Mr.  Pugh,  of  Ohio,  had,  early  in 
the  session,  introduced  resolutions  directing  the  Committee  on  the  Judi 
ciary  to  report  a  bill  repealing  so  much  of  the  laws  organizing  territorial 
governments  in  Utah  and  New  Mexico  as  required  the  acts  passed  by 
those  territorial  Legislatures  to  be  submitted  to  Congress  for  approval. 
But  this  movement  of  Mr.  Pugh  called  out  from  southern  members  severe 
rebuke.  He  was  told,  in  the  most  explicit  language,  that  the  South 
would  never  hold  political  fellowship  with  any  man  who  denied  to  Con 
gress  the  power  or  duty  to  sustain  slavery  in  the  Territories.  And  Mr. 
Douglas  and  his  friends  were  given  clearly  to  understand  that  no  advocate 
of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  could  receive  the  support  of  the  slave  States. 

In  February,  Mr.  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  introduced  resolutions  ,1860 
declaring  the  rights  of  the  States,  asserting  that  negro  slavery 
formed  a  part  of  the  political  institutions  of  various  States  ;  that  the 
Union  of  the  States  rested  upon  the  equality  of  rights  ;  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  Congress  to  provide  for  the  protection  of  slave  property  in  the 
Territories,  as  it  was  to  protect  other  property  of  the  citizens  ;  that  the 
inhabitants  of  a  territory,  when  forming  a  State  constitution,  may  pro 
vide  for  the  continuance  or  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  that  the  fugitive 
slave  act  ought  to  be  enforced. 

These  resolutions  were  discussed  and  amended,  and  finally  adopted, 
most  of  the  republican  Senators  refusing  to  vote  for  them. 

Early  in  the  session  Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  introduced  a  resolution 
for  appointing  a  committee,  to  investigate  and  report  to  the  Senate  the 
facts  connected  with  the  invasion  of  Virginia  by  John  Brown  and  his 
followers.  They  summoned  before  them  many  witnesses,  whom  they 
examined  ;  but  they  now  made  report  that  John  Brown,  Jr.,  of  Ashta- 
bula  County,  Ohio,  and  James  Redpath,  of  Maiden,  in  the  State  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  refused  to  appear  before  the  committee.  They  also  reported 
a  resolution  that  warrants  be  issued  to  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  to  take 
the  witnesses  and  bring  them  before  the  Senate,  to  answer  for  contempt 
of  its  authority. 

This  assumption  of  judicial  authority  by  the  Senate  was  voted  for  by 
Messrs.  Bigler  and  Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Collamer  and  Foot,  of 
Vermont ;  Dixon  and  Foster,  of  Connecticut ;  Grimes  and  Harlan,  of 
Iowa  ;  Doolittle,  of  Wisconsin  ;  King  and  Seward,  of  New  York  ;  Pugh 
and  Wade,  of  Ohio  ;  Ten  Eyck  and  Thompson,  of  New  Jersey  ;  while 
only  Messrs.  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire  ; 
Bingham,  of  Michigan,  and  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  voted  against  the  pro 
ceeding. 


438  CASE    OF   THADDETTS   HYATT. 

It  is  certain,  the  Constitution  had  given  the  Senate  no  other  judicial 
powers  than  such  as  were  necessary  to  protect  its  own  body.  If  these 
men  had  committed  crime  or  offence,  they  should  have  been  indicted  in 
the  district  where  such  offence  was  committed  ;  and  the  Senate  had  no 
authority  to  bring  them  from  Ohio  or  from  Massachusetts  to  answer  in 
Washington  City.  If  they  had  committed  no  crime,  surely  neither  the 
Senate,  nor  any  other  branch  of  Government,  had  authority  to  take 
them  from  their  homes  to  Washington.  But  the  slave  power  demanded 
it.  and  northern  Senators  voted  for  it. 

1860  -j  On  the  21st  February,  Mr.  Mason  reported  that  Thaddeus 
Hyatt,  of  Massachusetts,  had  refused  to  appear  before  the  com 
mittee  and  give  testimony,  and  he  presented  a  resolution  requiring 
the  Yice-President  to  issue  his  warrant  to  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  com 
manding  him  to  take  said  Hyatt  into  custody  and  bring  him  to  the  bar 
of  the  Senate.  Mr.  Hale  now  stated  his  reasons  for  voting  against  the 
resolution,  showing  that  the  duties  of  the  Senate  under  the  Constitution 
were  purely  legislative,  with  no  other  judicial  authority  than  to  preserve 
order  in  its  own  body  and  protect  itself  against  intruders. 

Mr.  Pugh,  of  Ohio,  stated  that  he  had  investigated  the  subject 
since  the  former  vote,  and  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  no  such 
powers  vested  in  the  Senate  ;  and  Mr.  Chesnut,  of  South  Carolina  ; 
Clark,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Durkee,  of  Wisconsin  ;  Hamlin,  of  Maine  ; 
Wade,  of  Ohio,  now  changed  positions,  and  voted  with  Mr.  Pugh 
against  this  usurpation  of  undelegated  powers.  But  the  motion  pre 
vailed. 

This  usurpation  by  the  Senate  brought  about  the  most  important 
conflict  between  the  State  and  National  Governments  that  has  occurred  ; 
but,  being  done  at  the  instance  of  the  slave  power,  it  occasioned  but 
little  agitation  among  the  people. 

1860-|  On  the  10th  April,  Mr.  Sumner  presented  the  memorial  of  F. 
B.  Sanborn,  of  Concord,  Massachusetts,  setting  forth  that  on  the 
3d  April,  certain  persons  who  had  been  prowling  about  his  neighborhood, 
under  shelter  of  night,  by  a  fraudulent  pretence,  drew  him  to  his  door, 
seized,  handcuffed,  and,  by  force,  attempted  to  convey  him  to  a  carriage  ; 
that  by  the  efforts  of  a  refined  lady  the  neighbors  were  aroused,  the 
bells  rung,  and  the  kidnappers  were  delayed  until  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus 
was  obtained  :  that  he  was  then  taken  before  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  of 
that  Commonwealth,  who,  without  going  into  the  question  of  jurisdiction, 
decided  that  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  could  not  delegate 'his  authority  to 
any  other  person  :  and  the  memorialist  asked  redress  for  the  outrage  to 
which  he  had  been  subjected. 


CASE  OF  F.   B.  SANBOKN.  439 

Mr.  Mason  said  that  Sanborn  had  been  rescued  by  a  mob. 

On  presenting  the  memorial,  Mr.  Sunnier  remarked  that  Mr.  Sanborn 
was  a  teacher,  of  high  respectability,  and  as  the  Senate  had  caused  his 
rights  to  be  outraged,  it  was  proper  that  suitable  redress  should  be 
awarded  him.  The  petition  was  finally  laid  on  the  table. 

On  the  13th  April,  Mr.  Sumner  presented  authenticated  documents 
in  the  case  of  Mr.  Sanborn,  showing  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  the  return 
thereon,  and  the  entire  record  ;  which,  being  read,  he  referred  to  the 
remark  of  Mr.  Mason,  made  on  the  10th,  saying  Sanborn  had  been  res 
cued  by  a  mob,  and  characterized  the  remark  in  appropriate  terms,  and 
moved  a  reference  of  the  papers  to  the  proper  committee. 

Mr.  Mason  moved  to  reject  them,  and  in  the  course  of  debate,  it  was 
made  to  appear  that  Governor  Wise,  of  Yirginia,  had  stated  in  a  letter 
to  the  Senate,  that  he  had  satisfactory  evidence  that  a  plan  existed 
in  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  other  States,  to  invade  Virginia,  and 
northern  Senators  were  anxious  to  summon  him  before  them  to  learn 
the  source  from  whence  the  evidence  was  derived.  Southern  Senators 
refused  to  call  him  before  the  Senate,  and  it  was  more  than  inti 
mated  that  the  refusal  was  dictated  by  a  wish  to  save  Mr.  Wise  from 
the  disgrace  which  must  attend  the  exposure  of  his  attempt  to  alarm 
the  public. 

Senators  began  to  understand  that  men  of  intelligence  intended  to 
test  the  constitutionality  of  their  proceedings  before  the  bar  of  the  peo 
ple  ;  and  they  became  more  deliberate  in  their  movements,  and  Mr. 
Mason  withdrew  his  motion  to  reject,  and  the  papers  were  referred.  But 
as  the  committee  had  been  selected  by  slaveholders,  they  retained  the 
papers  in  perpetual  silence.  .  . 

The  Sergeant-at-Arms  made  report  that,  in  pursuance  of  the  warrant 
of  the  Speaker,  he  had  arrested  Thaddeus  Hyatt,  and  now  held  him  in 
custody. 

Mr.  Mason  moved  a  resolution  that  the  Speaker  inquire  of  Hyatt — 
1st.  What  excuse  have  you  for  not  appearing  before  the  committee,  to 
give  testimony  ?  2d.  Are  you  now  ready  to  testify  ?  The  resolution  was 
adopted  ;  and  Hyatt,  saying  he  was  not  prepared  to  answer,  was  re 
manded  to  prison. 

On  the  9th  March,  he  was  again  brought  up,  and  the  President  of  the 
Senate  inquired  with  great  formality — "  Mr.  Hyatt,  are  you  now  ready 
to  answer  the  questions  propounded  by  order  of  the  Senate  ?" 

Mr.  Hyatt  answered — "  Yes,  sir,  I  am.  I  have  my  answer  here,  but 
am  not  able  to  read  it.  I  hope  the  Clerk  will  read  it  for  me." 

Mr.  Mason  said  he  had  read  the  answer,  which  denied  the  authority 


440  THE   COMMITTEE   KEPOET. 


I 


of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  by  process,  to  invade  the  domicile  or 
arrest  peaceful  citizens  charged  with  no  crime. 

2d.  That  the  Senate  were  bound  to  legislate  upon  matters  which  they 
deemed  necessary  ;  but  had  no  authority  to  compel  citizens  from  distant 
States  to  appear  before  them  to  give  information  as  to  their  duties  on 
any  subject 

The  answer  was  read  at  length,  and  the  question  of  disposing  of  the 
prisoner  was  next  presented.  He  was,  however,  remanded  to  the  cus 
tody  of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  and  the  next  morning  Mr.  Mason  pre 
sented  a  resolution,  committing  Hyatt  to  the  jail  of  Washington  for 
contempt  of  the  Senate,  until  he  should  express  a  willingness  to 
testify. 

The  subject  of  jurisdiction  was  fully  discussed,  and  Hyatt  was  com 
mitted  by  a  vote  of  44  to  10 — Messrs.  Bingham,  Dixon,  Hale,  Hamlin, 
Sumner,  Harlan,  Simmons,  Toombs,  and  Wade,  voting  against  the  com 
mitment.  The  jailer,  being  governed  by  law,  could  not  recognize  the 
commitment  as  coming  from  any  legalized  source  ;  but  he  received 
Hyatt,  gave  him  a  comfortable  room,  which  was  supplied  with  good 
parlor  furniture  ;  and,  the  prisoner  being  a  man  of  wealth,  obtained  the 
most  recent  publications,  and  occupied  his  time  agreeably  as  he  could 
under  the  circumstances. 

lgeo ,  The  Senate  now  found  itself  powerless  to  carry  out  their  designs 
by  imprisoning  Hyatt.  They  had  turned  aside  from  their  con 
stitutional  duties  to  compel  the  witness  to  testify  what  he  knew  of 
Brown's  invasion  of  Virginia  ;  and  while  in  conversation  he  declared 
that  he  knew  nothing,  yet  he  determined  to  refuse  saying  so — under 
senatorial  process.  The  Senate  could  not  torture  him — they  could  not 
fine  him — nor  could  they  induce  him  to  testify. 

On  the  25th  June,  the  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  cir 
cumstances  connected  with  the  raid  of  John  Brown  made  their  report. 
But  Hyatt  was  yet  in  prison.  Mr.  Sumner  had  previously  presented  a 
petition  numerously  signed  by  colored  men,  asking  his  release.  The 
petition  was  referred,  and  the  committee  reported  it  back,  with  a  re 
commendation  that  the  Secretary  hand  it  to  the  Senator  who  presented  it. 
But  a  majority  of  the  Senate  were  not  prepared  to  sustain  the  proposed 
insult,  and  the  report  was  laid  on  the  table,  and  Mr.  Hyatt  was  dis 
charged. 

The  committee,  in  reporting  upon  the  subject  for  which  it  had  been 
raised,  frankly  admitted  that  they  could  trace  no  knowledge  of  the  in 
vasion  to  any  other  persons  than  to  Brown  and  his  followers. 

But  this  invasion  of  Virginia  struck  the  entire  slaveholding  population 


KANSAS  APPLIES   FOR  ADMISSION. 

with  horror.  It  brought  the  subject  of  slavery  and  the  horrors  of  slave 
insurrections  before  the  people  of  the  country  in  a  practical  point  of 
view,  and  gave  slaveholders  to  understand  that  they  were  not  free  from 
danger,  when  their  enemies  were  provoked  too  far. 

Mr.  Brown,  of  Mississippi,  introduced  a  bill  in  the  Senate  for  punish 
ing  offences  against  slave  property  in  the  Territories  ;  but  it  was  not 
debated,  and  attracted  but  little  attention. 

Bills  were  introduced  for  the  more  effectual  suppression  of  the  African 
slave  trade  ;  and  petitions  were  presented  praying  Congress  to  abolish 
slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  in  the  Ter 
ritories  of  the  United  States  ;  against  the  admission  of  any  more  slave 
States  ;  and  against  the  employment  of  slaves  by  government.  Most  of 
these  were  laid  upon  the  table  without  debate. 

The  constitution  of  Kansas,  recently  adopted  by  the  people  of  that 
territory,  was  now  presented  to  both  Houses  of  Congress,  with  an  appli 
cation  for  admission  to  the  Union  as  a  State.  The  subject  was  referred, 
and  a  bill  for  the  admission  reported,  debated,  passed  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  was  sent  to  the  Senate  for  concurrence. 

In  the  Senate  there  was  great  resistance  to  the  admission,  as  it  would 
increase  the  number  of  free  States  ;  and  so  determined  was  the  opposi 
tion,  that  the  bill  was  yet  pending  before  the  Senate  at  the  adjourn 
ment. 

Mr.  Bingham,  of  Ohio,  introduced  a  bill  early  in  the  session  declaring 
all  laws  of  New  Mexico  establishing,  authorizing,  or  protecting  involun 
tary  servitude  void.  All  southern  members  voted  against  this  bill, 
together  with  Messrs.  Thayer,  of  Massachusetts  ;  John  Cochrane, 
Haskin,  and  Reynolds,  of  New  York  ;  Adrian  and  Riggs,  of  New 
Jersey  ;  Burch  and  Scott,  of  California  ;  Cooper,  of  Michigan  ;  Florence, 
Montgomery,  and  Schwartz,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Howard,  Martin,  Pendle- 
tou,  and  Yallandigham,  of  Ohio  ;  Davis,  Holman,  and  Niblack,  of  Indi 
ana  ;  Larrabee,  of  Wisconsin  ;  Logan,  Morris,  and  Robinson,  of  Illinois  ; 
and  Stout,  of  Oregon.  These  twenty-four  northern  members  were  un 
willing  to  give  liberty  to  the  slaves  of  that  territory.  But  the  bill  passed 
the  House  of  Representatives  by  a  majority  of  seven  votes. 

A  bill  from  the  Senate  to  prohibit  the  African  slave  trade  was  sub 
jected  to  a  protracted  de-bate  in  the  House.  That  provision  of  the  bill 
which  authorized  the  support  of  the  recaptured  victims  of  that  com 
merce  for  a  certain  time  after  being  rescued  from  the  slavedealers  was 
objected  to  as  unconstitutional;  but  it  passed  the  House  by  122  votes  to 
56  against  it. 

On  all  questions  touching  slavery,  slaveholders  appeared  to  graduate 


442  AN   IMPORTANT  BILL   DEFEATED. 

their  moral  principles  by  the  latitude  in  which  they  lived.  Thus,  in 
Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri  most  slaveholding  members  voted 
to  abolish  the  African  slave  trade,  while  those  from  South  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  usually  voted 
against  every  attempt  to  put  down  that  piratical  traffic. 
1860  -j  A  bill  providing  for  the  general  organization  of  territorial  gov 
ernments,  excluding  slavery  therefrom,  was  debated  for  some  time 
in  the  House  of  Representatives ;  but  Mr.  Thayer,  of  Massachusetts, 
elected  as  a  Republican,  united  with  Mr.  Douglas  and  his  followers  to 
prevent  any  action  on  this  subject,  and  by  the  assistance  of  those  called 
Conservatives  defeated  the  bill. 

The  perseverance  with  which  the  slave  power  always  pressed  the 
claims  of  southern  men  for  the  loss  of  slaves  was  well  illustrated  during 
this  session.  In  1814,  General  Jackson  entered  west  Florida  with 
his  army.  He  was  followed  by  a  class  of  desperadoes  who  stole  negroes 
from  the  inhabitants  ;  but  no  one  then  pretended  that  Government 
was  in  any  way  responsible  for  these  acts. 

In  1818,  General  Jackson,  in  prosecuting  the  first  Seminole  war 
again  invaded  Florida,  and  in  order  to  support  his  army,  took  posses 
sion  of  all  provisions  which  fell  in  his  way. 

By  the  ninth  article  of  our  treaty  with  Spain,  in  1820,  the  American 
Government  agreed  to  indemnify  the  Spanish  officers  and  inhabitants  of 
Florida  for  such  injuries  as  they  had  sustained  by  the  late  American 
army.  There  was  at  that  time  no  doubt  entertained  in  regard  to  this 
stipulation.  All  appear  to  have  understood  it  as  applying  to  the  late 
army,  or  the  army  of  1818. 

But  the  people  who  had  lost  slaves  and  property  in  1814  soon  after 
applied  for  indemnity,  and  their  claims  were  rejected.  They  then  peti 
tioned  Congress,  but  obtained  no  relief.  They  next  called  on  the  Trea 
sury  Department,  and  Mr.  Woodbury,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was 
said  to  have  decided  favorably  upon  this  class  of  claims,  and  that  some 
ten  thousand  dollars  were  paid  on  them  before  he  learned  that  they  had 
been  previously  rejected. 

The  claimants  again  called  on  Congress,  and  the  memorials  were 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  "Indian  Affairs,"  who  made  an  elaborate 
report,  with  a  bill  for  their  payment.  But  when  it  came  up  for  investi 
gation,  in  1843,  Mr.  Adams  gave  such  an  expose*  of  its  demerits  that 
only  thirty-three  members  voted  for  it. 

After  the  lapse  of  a  few  years  they  were  presented  to  the  Court  of 
Claims,  where  they  were  again  rejected.  But  now,  after  forty-six  years 
had  gone  by,  they  were  presented  to  the  Senate,  and  a  very  elaborate 


443 

report  was  made  in  favor  of  paying  them.  There  was,  however,  strong 
opposition  to  the  bill,  which  was  postponed  to  the  next  session.* 

Mr.  Blake,  of  Ohio,  presented  to  the  House  a  preamble  and  resolu 
tion,  in  the  following  words  : 

"  Whereas,  The  chattelizing  of  humanity,  and  holding  of  persons  as 
property,  is  contrary  to  national  justice  and  the  fundamental  principles 
of  our  political  system,  and  is  notoriously  a  reproach  to  our  country 
throughout  the  civilized  world,  and  a  serious  hindrance  to  the  progress 
of  republican  liberty  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  ;  therefore 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  be  instructed  to  in 
quire  into  the  expediency  of  reporting  a  bill  giving  freedom  to  every 
human  being,  and  interdicting  slavery  wherever  Congress  has  the  con 
stitutional  power  to  legislate  on  that  subject." 

This  resolution  was  resisted  by  every  member  from  the  slave  States, 
and  by  Messrs.  French,  of  Maine  ;  Thayer,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Barr, 
Briggs,  John  Cochrane,  and  Kenyon,  of  New  York ;  Campbell,  Florence, 
Hickman,  Montgomery,  Morris,  McKnight,  McPherson,  Millward, 
Schwartz,  and  Scranton,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Riggs  and  Nixon,  of  New 
Jersey ;  Allen,  Cox,  Martin,  Trimble,  and  Yallandigham,  of  Ohio  ; 
Davis,  Dunn,  Hughs,  and  Niblack,  of  Indiana  ;  Fouke,  Logan,  Morris, 
and  Robinson,  of  Illinois. 

The  resolution  was  in  exact  accordance  with  the  platform  to  which 
every  true  Republican  was  committed  ;  yet  out  of  the  one  hundred  and 
seventeen  Republicans  who  voted  for  the  Speaker  only  sixty,  or  little 
more  than  half  the  real  number,  voted  for  this  resolution  ;  and  it  was 
defeated  by  one  hundred  and  nine  votes  in  the  negative. 

This  want  of  harmony  among  the  Republicans  grew  out  of  the  dif 
ferent  opinions  entertained  by  the  members.  Men  who  had  long  acted 
with  the  whig  party,  under  the  conviction  that  its  policy  and  principles 
were  correct,  found  themselves  abandoned  by  their  associates  with  whom 
they  had  long  acted,  and  were  constrained  to  unite  with  Republicans  or 
remain  isolated  from  political  society.  Coming  into  the  republican 
organization,  they  sought  to  change  the  party  with  whom  they  united 
rather  than  admit  that  they  had  been  wrong  in  former  times. 

Another  class  were  office  seekers.  They  had  opposed  the  republican 
organization  until  they  saw  its  success  was  inevitable.  They  then  joined 
it ;  but  this  occurred  as  it  were  at  the  eleventh  hour,  and  they  could 
not  assume  a  leading  position  while  admitting  themselves  to  be  follow- 


*  Probably  the  secession  of  the  slave  States  saved  the  Treasury  from  the  eventual  payment  of 
these  claims. 


444  DIFFICULTIES    IN   THE   REPUBLICAN   PAKTY. 

ers.     These  men  were  desirous  of  adopting  some  other  policy,  in  order 
that  they  might  lead  in  its  support. 

Ig60  j  They  sought  to  draw  off  public  attention  from  the  great  issue 
which  had  been  formed  between  the  Republicans  and  Demo 
crats,  upon  the  primal  truths  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ;  not 
because  those  doctrines  were  wrong,  but  for  the  reason  that  they  had  not 
hd  in  their  avowal.  All  these  men  believed  the  people  too  ignorant  and 
too  depraved  to  maintain  a  free  and  just  government.  They  asserted 
and  constantly  maintained  that  wrong,  injustice,  corruption,  and  crime 
were  necessary  to  support  any  form  of  government.  This  theory  charac 
terized  the  democratic  party.  They  held  it  was  necessary  to  maintain 
slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  in  order  to  sup 
port  the  Union.  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Webster,  Mr.  Fillmore  and  his 
Cabinet,  all  held  that  it  was  necessary  for  northern  men  to  seize  and 
return  to  slavery  those  who  were  fleeing  to  a  land  of  liberty.  This  out 
rage  upon  human  nature  was  perhaps  the  most  revolting  crime  which 
men  could  commit  against  their  fellow-men;  yet  leading  Whigs  and  lead 
ing  Democrats  asserted  that  it  was  necessary  that  the  people  of  the  free 
States  should  commit  it  in  order  to  save  the  Union. 

The  friends  of  liberty  saw  clearly  that  their  danger  arose  from  malcon 
tents  within  the  republican  organization.  They  had  no  fears  of  the  demo 
cratic  party.  They  were  open  and  frank  in  the  avowal  of  political  crimes, 
and  reflecting  men  knew  that  all  honest,  patriotic  adherents  of  truth 
and  justice  must  oppose  them  so  long  as  the  then  existing  issue  was 
adhered  to. 

The  author  was  then  in  private  life,  but  he  saw  clearly  the  efforts 
making  to  modify  the  issue  between  the  Democrats  and  Republicans 
in  order  to  render  it  less  distinct.  To  meet  those  efforts  he  sought 
the  appointment  of  delegate  to  the  Chicago  Convention  for  nomi 
nating  President  and  Yice-President.  He  said  publicly  that  his  object 
was  to  induce  the  republican  party  to  adhere  to  its  doctrines,  to 
stand  firmly  upon  the  issue  which  had  been  formed.  On  reaching 
Chicago,  he  found  a  large  hall  where  thousands  were  convened. 
Other  speakers  argued  in  favor  of  their  respective  candidates,  but  the 
writer  at  once  avowed  that  the  maintenance  of  principle  should  constitute 
the  object  of  the  convention.  That  parties  were  a  deception  when  they 
ceased  to  represent  principles.  That  all  ought  to  support  the  doctrines 
enunciated  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  repeated  by  the  Re 
publicans  at  the  Philadelphia  Convention.  He  also  made  known  to  the 
delegates  of  his  State  that  he  wished  to  serve  on  the  Committee  of  Re 
solutions,  as  he  had  done  at  Philadelphia  when  the  party  was  formed, 


DIFFICULTIES    IN   THE   REPUBLICAN   PAKTY.  445 

and  that  his  object  was  to  induce  the  committee  and  the  convention  to  adfere 
to  republican  principles. 

But  the  delegation  appointed  another  gentleman  who  had  not  been 
known  to  the  public  as  an  adherent  of  these  principles.  The  committee 
reported  a  series  of  resolutions  declamatory  in  their  character,  assailing 
the  democratic  party,  and  disapproving  the  extension  of  slavery  into 
free  territory,  but  entirely  omitting  all  reference  to  the  elementary 
truths  enunciated  in  1856. 

The  report  being  read,  the  author  proposed  an  amendment,  reasserting 
the  "  self-evident  truths"  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Its  adop 
tion  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Carter,  of  Ohio  ;  Mr.  Thayer,  of  Massa 
chusetts  ;  and  a  gentleman  from  Indiana.  But  no  other  member  rose 
to  sustain  the  amendment,  and  it  was  rejected. 

Unwilling  to  sit  in  a  convention  that  hesitated  to  reassert  the  primal 
truths  on  which  the  Government  was  founded,  the  author  left  the  hall. 
As  he  went  to  his  lodgings,  gentlemen  from  different  States  accompanied 
him,  wishing  to  have  another  convention  called  of  men  who  would  abide 
by  the  doctrines  of  the  Government.  But  while  conversing  on  the  subject, 
Mr.  Curtiss,  of  New  York,  offered,  substantially,  the  same  amendment, 
and  sustained  it  by  an  able  speech.  Mr.  Nye,  of  that  State,  also  sup 
ported  it,  and  it  was  adopted  ;  and,  on  being  informed  of  this  fact,  the 
author  and  his  friends  resumed  their  seats  in  the  convention. 

As  these  movements  stand  connected  with  important  historic      ,1860 
events,  it  is  deemed  proper  to  place  them  in  detail  before  the 
reader. 

Among  all  the  candidates  for  President,  only  one  had  been  numbered 
among  the  advocates  of  freedom  previous  to  the  convention  at  Philadel 
phia  in  1856.  Mr.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  had  been  an  early  advocate  of 
human  rights. 

As  it  was  evident  that  the  Republicans  must  succeed,  the  friends  of 
the  various  candidates  urged  the  claims  of  their  favorites,  and  all  were 
anxious  to  pledge  themselves  and  their  candidates  to  stand  by  the  doc 
trines  of  the  party.  But  men  had  arrayed  themselves  so  strongly  in 
favor  of  one  and  against  the  others,  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  select 
one  against  whom  there  was  comparatively  little  prejudice.  Mr.  Lincoln, 
of  Illinois,  was  nominated.  He  was  literally  a  self-made  man,  a  native 
of  Kentucky,  possessing  an  intellect  of  unusual  astuteness,  and  of  unim 
peachable  integrity.  He  had  served  one  term  in  Congress,  but  was 
evidently  destitute  of  that  experience  in  public  life  which  was  neces 
sary  to  qualify  a  man  for  the  Presidential  office.  His  early  training  and 
habits  of  thought  had  led  him  to  believe  the  slaveholder  had  some  moral 


446  NOMINATION   OF   ME.    LINCOLN. 

or  legal  right  to  the  services  of  his  slave  ;  and  although  an  eloquent 
advocate  of  liberty,  it  appeared  difficult  for  him  to  believe  that  the 
right  to  life  and  liberty  had  been  bestowed  on  black  men  equally 
with  the  white  race.  But  from  his  candor,  his  frankness,  and  integrity, 
the  anti-slavery  men  had  confidence  that  he  would  respect  their 
principles  in  due  time. 

,  In  all  former  presidential  elections,  members  of  Congress  had  given, 
direction  to  the  public  mind  in  regard  to  candidates.  But  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  very  little  congressional  support,  and  his  nomination  was  received  in 
Washington  with  wonder  and  surprise.  But  the  members  generally  sup 
ported  him. 

The  importance  of  this  election  did  not  consist  so  much  in  the  devo 
tion  of  the  republican  party  to  the  great  doctrines  of  liberty,  as  in  the 
fact  that  the  nomination  and  election  resulted  from  the  independent 
action  of  men  who  refused  to  be  controlled  by  the  slave  power.  Pro 
bably  hundreds  of  thousands  voted  with  the  republican  party  under  the 
expectation  of  success,  caring  little  for  the  slave. 

The  democratic  party,  as  had  been  foreseen,  could  not  effectually  re 
sist  the  power  of  moral  principle.  Southern  members  of  the  party  were 
anxious  that  the  slaveholding  constitution  of.  Kansas  should  be  received 
by  Congress,  and  the  State  admitted  without  submitting  the  adoption 
of  it  to  the  people  of  the  territory. 

Northern  leaders  saw  clearly  that  such  policy  must  result  in  the 
overthrow  of  their  organization.  Southern  statesmen  demanded  that 
Congress  should  legislate  for  the  protection  of.  slavery  in  the  Terri 
tories.  The  northern  members  refused  to  adopt  that  doctrine,  urging 
that  the  people  of  the  territory  may  either  admit  or  reject  slavery,  as 
they  pleased. 

Thus  was  the  party  divided,  and  when  their  delegates  assembled  at 
Charleston  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  candidates  for  President  and 
Yice-President,  they  were  unable  to  agree  upon  a  platform  of  principles, 
and  separated  into  different  conventions,  and  nominated  different  candi 
dates.  The  northern  portion  of  the  party  united  on  Mr.  Douglas,  and 
those  of  the  South  on  Mr.  Breckinridge.  This  division  of  the  demo 
cratic  organization  left  no  doubt  of  their  defeat,  and  the  election  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  rather  a  matter  of  form  than  the  solution  of  a.  doubtful 
question. 

1860  .j         The  slave  power,  by  the  exercise  of  its  influence,  had  elected 

Mr.  Jefferson  in  1800,  and  had  dictated  the  election  of  every 

subsequent  President  up  to  that  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  1860,  except  that  of 

Mr.  Adams,  in  1824.     And  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams  the  question 


THE  FOBCE  OF  TEUTH  TRIUMPHANT.  4:4:7 

of  slavery  was  not  distinctly  involved,  nor  was  he  elected  in  opposition 
to  the  slave  power. 

But  now  the  victory  was  obtained  by  the  force  of  truth  operating 
upon  the  popular  mind.  During  the  canvass  there  was  no  political 
strategy,  no  disguising  of  principles,  no  subterfuge,  no  metaphysical 
theories  to  deceive  or  mislead  the  people.  It  was  achieved  by  the  open 
avowal  and  undisguised  maintenance  of  "self-evident  truths."  The 
result  constituted  an  era  in  Christian  statesmanship.  The  old  theory 
of  politicians  had  been  discarded.  The  dictation  of  the  slave  power 
had  been  repudiated.  The  Government  was  to  be  regenerated  and 
redeemed,  when  the  existing  Administration  should  close  its  consti 
tutional  term  of  service. 


448  PKEPAKATOKY   MEASURES   FOE   REBELLION. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

STATE    OF    FEELING    AFTER    THE    ELECTION OFFICIAL   MENDACITY    OF    PRESI 
DENT    BUCHANAN FEELING  IN  CONGRESS — PROPOSITIONS  OF   MR.    CRITTEN-' 

DEN WITHDRAWAL  OF  SOUTH    CAROLINA HER   DECLARATION  OF  CAUSES 

SHE    SENDS    DELEGATES    TO    WASHINGTON A    CONVENTION    OF    DELEGATES 

FROM   THE    FREE  AND    BORDER   STATES INAUGURATION  OF   THE   REBELLION 

AND  CLOSE   OF  THE   DEMOCRATIC  ADMINISTRATION. 

1860  .j  THE  expectation  that  the  Republicans  would  elect  their  candi 
date  to  the  Presidency,  had  led  several  of  the  southern  States  to 
take  preparatory  measures  for  inaugurating  the  rebellion  ;  but  when 
the  result  was  known,  the  pending  storm  appeared  to  gather  more 
rapidly.  Congress  was  about  to  assemble,  and  in  order  that  South 
Carolina  should  not  be  misunderstood,  her  two  Senators  resigned  their 
positions,  and  refused  to  take  seats  in  the  body  of  which  they  had  been 
members.  Governor  Letcher,  of  Yirginia,  in  his  message  to  the  Legis 
lature,  declared  that  the  administration  of  Mr.  Lincoln  could  not  and 
would  not  be  submitted  to.  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Georgia  and  Florida 
also  began  to  make  public  demonstrations  in  favor  of  rebellion. 

At  the  reassembling  of  the  twenty-sixth  Congress,  the  members  found 
themselves  surrounded  by  novel  and  interesting  circumstances.  The 
voice  of  the  people  had  been  uttered  in  favor  of  equal  rights,  and  equal 
justice  to  all  men.  They  had  emphatically  repudiated  the  heathenish 
dogma  that  "  black  men  have  no  rights  that  white  men  are  bound  to 
respect."  Nor  was  this  vote  of  the  people  less  a  repudiation  of  the  men 
who  held  such  barbarous  doctrines.  It  was  quite  obvious  that  the  policy 
of  sustaining  slavery  could  no  longer  control  the  Government.  States 
men  of  experience,  looking  through  the  vista  of  coming  events,  read  the 
doom  of  oppression,  which  now  appeared  to  be  written  upon  the 
moral  world  around  us. 

But  a  hallucination  appeared  to  have  seized  upon  the  southern 
mind.  The  advocates  of  slavery  constituted  the  only  persons  in  exist 
ence  who  believed  that  slavery  could  survive  a  civil  war  :  yet  they 
appeared  to  think  that  insurrection  alone  would  sustain  the  institution. 
They  insisted,  however,  that  the  free  States  had  always  yielded  to  the 
demands  of  the  South,  and  that  the  people  of  the  North  would  give  up 
the  administration  of  government  TO  southern  hands  rather  than  see  the 


THE    CHANGE   IN   THE   PUBLIC   MIND.  44:9 

Union  dissolved.  No  southern  man  appeared  to  have  the  least  idea  that 
the  people  of  the  free  States  would  ever  meet  them  in  armed  hostility, 
rather  than  surrender  the  Government  and  their  liberties  to  the  keeping 
of  slaveholders.  Indeed,  northern  Democrats  and  some  northern  presses 
proposed  that  the  Republicans  should  give  up  the  administration  of 
government  to  southern  oligarchs,  and  that  the  President  elect  should 
quietly  retire  to  private  life. 

Old  men  who  had. long  served  in  the  whig  and  democratic  parties 
were  astonished  at  the  change.  They  had  never  dreamed  that  there  was 
an  inherent,  immutable  power  in  truth  and  justice.  They  felt  that  Messrs. 
Clay,  and  Webster,  and  Cass,  and  Calhouii,  and  Fillmore,  and  their 
associates,  were  truly  the  greatest  men,  and  the  ablest  statesmen  of  the 
world  :  That  under  their  influence,  the  interests  of  slavery  had  controlled 
the  Government,  in  its  days  of  apparent  prosperity  :  they  saw  no  evils 
in  the  fugitive  slave  act,  nor  in  the  slave  trade,  or  in  slavery  on  the  high 
seas,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in  our  Territories.  They  believed 
it  necessary  to  sustain  the  slave  trade  to  pay  the  debts  of  Texas,  to  wage 
a  war  with  Mexico  and  butcher  her  people,  in  order  that  we  might 
prosper  ;  and  they  were  overwhelmed  with  surprise  that  the  people 
should  desire  a  change  of  policy.  Nor  was  this  feeling  uncommon.  It 
pervaded  all  classes  to  a  greater  or  less  extent ;  even  professed  Republi 
cans  were  unconscious  of  the  responsibility  now  thrown  upon  their 
party. 

President  Buchanan  was  an  old  man.  He  had  served  during  his 
political  life  in  the  democratic  party,  and  was  supposed  to  truly  repre 
sent  the  voice  of  those  who  continued  to  act  with  him. 

In  his  annual  message,  he  called  attention  to  the  disaffection  of  the 
South.  With  mendacious  effrontery  he  asserted  that  the  hostility  of  the 
South  had  arisen  from  "  the  long  continued  and  intemperate  interference 
of  the  northern  people  with  the  question  of  slavery  in  the  southern 
States."  This  assertion  had  been  so  often  put  forth  by  irresponsible 
politicians  and  members  of  Congress  that  the  President,  although  con 
scious  of  its  falsity,  did  not  probably  think  it  would  be  exposed  :  but  he 
as  well  as  the  writer  had  long  moved  in  public  life,  and  must  have 
known  that  no  member  of  Congress,  or  public  man,  or  man  of  character, 
had  ever  offered  or  presented  a  resolution,  or  bill,  or  memorial,  or  speech, 
or  proposition  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States.  The  author 
speaks  with  some  earnestness  on  this  subject :  conscious  that  for  many 
years  he  was  regarded  as  the  most  radical,  the  most  ultra- republican 
and  anti-slavery  man  who  served  in  Congress,  he  appeals  to  the  records 
of  that  body  as  showing  conclusively  that  at  all  times,  under  all  circum- 

29 


450  VARIOUS    EFFORTS   TO   SAVE   THE   UNION. 

stances,  he  denied  for  himself  and  friends  the  constitutional  power  to 
interfere  in  time  of  peace  with  the  institution  in  the  States.  But  this 
declaration  of  the  President  greatly  encouraged  southern  rebels,  as  it 
led  them  to  cherish  the  expectation  that  the  democratic  party  would 
unite  with  them  in  carrying  out  the  rebellion. 

Soon  as  the  message  had  been  read  in  the  House,  Mr.  Boteler,  a  slave 
holder  of  Virginia,  moved  to  refer  so  much  of  it  as  related  to  the 
perilous  condition  of  the  country  to  a  committee  of  one  member  from 
each  State.  The  motion  prevailed  by  a  vote  of  145  in  the  affirmative 
to  38  in  the  negative. 

Unfortunately  the  Speaker,  through  timidity,  or  from  not  knowing 
the  character  of  the  members,  appointed  at  the  head  of  this  important 
committee  Mr.  Corwin,  of  Ohio,  who  had  served  in  Mr.  Fillmore's 
Cabinet ;  and  had  ever  approved  and  advocated  the  fugitive  slave  act, 
and  all  those  measures  of  Congress  in  favor  of  slavery,  which  were  so 
offensive  to  the  lovers  of  liberty  ;  and  a  large  majority  of  the  committee 
were  either  slaveholders  or  supporters  of  the  slaveholding  policy.  They 
made  several  reports,  one  of  which  was  in  favor  of  a  more  stringent 
fugitive  slave  enactment,  and  for  the  adoption  of  further  compromises 
on  the  part  of  the  free  States,  which,  although  rejected  by  the  House, 
served  to  increase  the  confidence  of  southern  men  that  the  northern 
people  would  surrender  to  the  demands  of  the  South. 

The  Representatives  and  Senators  of  Virginia,  with  an  air  of  importance, 
now  proposed  to  act  as  mediators  between  the  North  and  South,  in  order 
•"  to  save  the  Union."  But  every  suggestion  coming  from  them,  merely 
indicated  that  the  people  of  the  free  States  should  make  further  sur 
renders,  and  give  further  guarantees  to  slavery. 

To  these  suggestions  northern  Democrats  generally  assented,  while 
Republicans  listened  to  them  in  silence. 

Various  propositions  were  offered  to  the  consideration  of  the  Senate 
and  of  the  House  for  amending  the  Constitution.  Some  proposed  to 
divide  the  territory,  and  make  it  the  duty  of  Congress  to  support  liberty 
north  of  a  certain  line,  and  slavery  south  of  it.  Some  proposed  to 
amend  the  Constitution,  so  that  the  United  States  should  pay  the  owners 
of  fugitive  slaves  the  value  of  those  who  should  escape,  thus  taxing  the 
people  of  the  free  Sfates  to  support  slavery.  Others  proposed  to  pay 
the  master  from  the  funds  of  the  State  to  which  the  slave  might 
flee.  But  every  proposition  for  amending  the  Constitution  or  laws, 
had  for  its  object  further  surrender  of  northern  rights.  That  which 
attracted  most  attention  and  commanded  most  influence,  was  presented 
to  the  Senate  by  Hon.-  John  J.  Crittenden,  of  Kentucky.  He  proposed 


MB.  CRITTENDEN'S  PROPOSITIONS.  451 

such  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution  as  would  establish  slavery 
south  of  36  deg.  30  min.  north  latitude,  and  maintain  freedom  north 
of  that  line. 

2d.  That  Congress  should  have  no  power  to  abolish  slavery  in  any 
place  under  its  exclusive  jurisdiction  ;  should  not  interfere  with  slavery 
or  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  while  the  State  of  Mary 
land  should  continue  the  institution  :  And  that  the  owners  of  slaves 
might  transport  them  from  one  State  to  another  by  land  or  water. 
This  would  give  them  the  right  of  transit  through  the  free  States,  and  in 
fact  would  render  every  State  a  slaveholding  government. 

3d.  That  payment  of  the  value  of  fugitive  slaves  should  be  made  from 
the  public  treasury  whenever  they  should  be  rescued  or  assisted  to 
escape. 

These  propositions  were  in  most  singular  contrast  with  the  President's 
message,  in  which  he  asserted  that  all  which  the  slave  States  demanded 
was  "  to  be  let  alone"  While  these  false  assertions  of  the  President  were 
before  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  every  proposition  from  members  re 
presenting  slave  States  or  from  northern  Democrats,  demanded  further 
concession,  further  yielding  of  northern  rights,  further  support  of  slavery 
from  the  northern  people  :  Every  proposition  was  in  direct  antagonism 
with  the  essential  principles  of  liberty  and  justice  set  forth  in  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence  ;  and  not  one  of  them  could  be  adopted  and  car 
ried  into  effect  without  overthrowing  the  vital  doctrines  on  which  the 
Government  had  been  founded. 

On  the  21st  December,  the  Representatives  of  South  Carolina,      j-186() 
by  a  written  communication  addressed  to  the  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  announced  that  the  people  of  that  State  had 
resumed  the  powers  delegated  to  the  Federal  Government,  and  took 
final  leave  of  Congress. 

In  professing  to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  South  Carolina,  through 
her  convention,  asserted  that  by  the  compact  expressed  in  the  fourth 
article  of  the  Constitution,  the  several  States  stipulated  to  return  fugi 
tive  slaves  ;  that  fourteen  of  those  States  had  failed  to  perform  their 
several  covenants  in  this  respect :  Yet  every  Senator  and  Repre 
sentative  of  that  State  had  voted  in  favor  of  exercising  the  ungracious 
task  of  capturing  and  returning  fugitive  slaves*  ly  the  Federal  Govern 
ment.  Indeed,  the  then  existing  fugitive  act  was  reported  by  Sena 
tor  Butler,  of  that  State,  and  the  Supreme  Court,  in  accordance 
with  southern  views,  had  decided  that  all  State  laws  on  the  subject 
were  void. 

This  failure  to  capture  and  return  fugitive  sla.es  by  northern  citi- 


452  CAUSES   OF  THE   SEPARATION. 

zens  now  constituted  the  leading  and  principal  cause  avowed  by 
South  Carolina  for  dissolving  the  Union  which  her  people  had  sworn  to 
support. 

The  next  cause  assigned  was,  that  the  people  of  the  free  States  de 
nied  the  right  of  property  in  human  flesh  :  and  the  assertion  of  this 
principle,  taught  by  Christianity,  enforced  by  our  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  and  emphatically  asserted  by  the  Constitution,  was  proclaimed 
by  the  people  of  South  Carolina  as  sufficient  cause  for  separating  from 
the  Government  instituted  by  our  fathers. 

The  next  cause  assigned  was  the  agitation  of  the  slave  question  by 
the  people  of  the  free  States.  Perhaps  nothing  better  illustrates  the 
feeling  of  despotism  which  ruled  our  slave  States,  than  this  idea  of  de 
nying  to  northern  people  the  right  to  speak  their  sentiments  on  all  moral 
and  political  questions.  The  right  had  been  most  solemnly  guaranteed 
by  the  Constitution,  while  its  exercise  furnished  South  Carolina  with  a 
supposed  vindication  for  separating  from  the  Union. 

The  next  and  last  cause  of  complaint  was,  that  some  of  the  northern 
States  had  elevated  to  citizenship  persons  (blacks)  whom  the  people  of 
South  Carolina  declared  were  incapable  of  becoming  such  under  the 
Constitution.  This  assertion,  however,  was  sustained  alone  by  the  dicta 
of  slave  States,  for  surely  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  had  made 
no  distinction  on  account  of  complexion.  Not  a  word,  or  sentence,  or 
thought  in  this  declaration  of  causes  which  impelled  South  Carolina  to 
the  separation,  has  allusion  to  any  subject  but  slavery.  No  other  sub 
ject  was  alluded  to  as  furnishing  any  cause  of  complaint :  And  it  -is  be 
lieved  that  this  constituted  the  first  instance  in  the  history  of  the  world 
where  a  people  have  revolted  against  a  government  on  account  of  its  devo 
tion  to  liberty.  None  of  the  other  seceding  States  based  their  vindication 
upon  any  other  than  this  general  charge  :  that  the  people  of  the  free 
States  had  been  and  were  opposed  to  the  despotism  of  slavery. 

Representatives  and  Senators  from  all  the  cotton-growing  States,  now 
held  towards  the  Government  the  language  of .  defiance  and  in  frequent 
instances  that  of  contempt.  Northern  Representatives  appeared  paral- 
ized  under  these  insane  demonstrations  :  While  northern  Democrats  and 
members  calling  themselves  Conservatives,  were  active  in  their  efforts  to 
adopt  such  measures  as  the  advocates  of  slavery  demanded. 

In  perfect  keeping  with  the  doctrine  that  frauds  and  crime  are  neces 
sary  to  support  governments,  it  was  at  this  time  ascertained  that  the 
Indian  Trust  Fund  had  been  robbed  by  the  action  of  the  Secretary 
of  War  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  of  some  eight  hundred 
thousand  dollars  ;  but  this  gigantic  peculation  seemed  to  have  no 


SECESSION   RESISTED   BY   FORCE.  453 

influence  in  attaching   those  who  committed  it  to  the  support  of  the 
Government. 

Several  individuals  now.  appeared  in  Washington,  claiming  to  be  a 
delegation  from  South  Carolina,  openly  proposing  to  treat  with  the  Pre 
sident  for  the. surrender  of  forts  and  arsenals  belonging  to  the  Federal 
Government  situated  upon  the  coast  of  that  State.  Instead  of  impris 
oning  these  traitors,  the  President  entered  into  a  written  correspondence 
with  them,  surrendered  up  to  the  people  of  South  Carolina  forts,  arsenals, 
custom-houses,  and  post-offices  situated  within  the  jurisdiction  of  that 
State.  He  also  permitted  the  Secretary  of  War  to  transport  arms,  ammu 
nition,  and  the  paraphernalia  of  war,  from  northern  arsenals  to  those  of 
the  South,  and  they  were  delivered  to  the  custody  of  men  known  to  be 
engaged  in  treasonable  designs  against  the  Government. 

These  acts  were  so  flagrant  that  Secretary  Cass,  finding  his  own  repu 
tation  in  danger  by  his  association  with  the  Executive,  resigned  the 
Treasury  Department,  refusing  longer  to  be  identified  witi  an  Adminis 
tration  which  he  had  assisted  to  elect,  and  with  which  he  had  been  asso 
ciated  from  its  inauguration. 

An  order  from  the  Secretary  of  War  for  the  removal  of  some  seventy 
pieces  of  ordnance  from  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  to  Mississippi,  was 
resisted  by  a  popular  demonstration  in  that  city.  This  constituted  the 
first  manifestation  of  force  in  resisting  the  progress  of  rebellion.  But  in 
consequence  of  this  display  of  the  popular  feeling  the  order  was  revoked, 
and  the  guns  remained  in  Pennsylvania. 

While  these  scenes  were  being  enacted,  Mr.  Bingham,  of  Ohio, 
faithful  to  his  Government  as  well  as  to  his  own  reputation,  intro 
duced  a  resolution  instructing  the  select  committee  of  thirty-three, 
appointed  under  Mr.  Boteler's  resolution,  to  report  to  the  House  such 
additional  legislation  as  they  might  deem  necessary  to  put  down  the 
rebellion. 

Mr.  Morris,  a  Democrat,  of  Illinois,  offered  a  proposition  that  the 
members  unite  in  a  solemn  assertion  of  their  devotion  to  the  Govern 
ment  :  And  Mr.  Hutchins,  of  Ohio,  offered  a  resolution  for  protecting 
the  free  blacks  of  northern  States  from  being  enslaved  by  the  people  of 
the  South.  But  none  of  these  propositions  were  debated  or  voted  upon. 
Indeed,  the  House  appeared  unwilling  to  debate  or  vote  upon  any  pro 
position  that  did  not  contemplate  further  surrender  of  northern  honor 
and  northern  interests. 

Nor  was  the  Senate  either  idle  or  silent.  Soon  as  the  message  of  the 
President  had  been  read,  Mr.  Clingman,  of  North  Carolina,  responded 


454:  CONFLICT   OF   OPINION. 

that  its  tone  was  eminently  patriotic :  But  he  asserted  that  the  President 
elect  was  a  dangerous  man,  and  declared  that  he  had  been  elected  be 
cause  he  was  dangerous.  He  spoke  of  the  inevitable  rule  to  which  the 
republican  organization  was  destined,  and  asserted  that  the  South  could 
not  endure  the  administration  of  any  man  elected  upon  the  principles 
enunciated  by  that  party. 

He  made  no  complaint  of  the  past ;  but  assured  the  Senate  that  un 
less  the  people  of  the  North  should  give  further  guarantees  in  favor  of 
slavery,  several  slave  States  would  be  out  of  the  Union  in  ninety  days. 
He  was  a  bold  man,  and  usually  stated  the  position  of  the  Republicans 
candidly,  and  made  no  scruple  in  demanding  further  guarantees  of 
the  North  for  the  slavery  of  the  South.  Indeed,  most  southern  mem 
bers  were  frank  and  apparently  honest  in  demanding  that  the  North 
should  sustain  their  institutions,  while  to  the  President  and  other  north 
ern  men  they  left  the  unenviable  task  of  misrepresentation  on  this 
subject. 

i860]  ^n  ^e  following  morning,  Senator  Green,  of  Missouri,  offered 
a  resolution  proposing  an  armed  police  to  be  stationed  along 
the  line  separating  the  slave  and  free  States,  for  the  efficient  execution 
of  the  fugitive  slave-  act,  and  to  preserve  the  peace.  In  debating  this 
resolution,  Senator  Green  boldly  maintained  that  the  proximate  cause  of 
the  rebellion  consisted  in  consecrating  the  soil  of  California  to  freedom, 
after  it  had  been  acquired  for  the  purpose  of  extending  slavery.  He 
asserted  the  opinion  that  the  platform  on  which  the  incoming  President 
had  been  elected  was  in  direct  conflict  with  the  Constitution,  and  read 
a  letter  from  Senator  Doolittle  to  a  friend, 'saying,  "  the  election  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  indeed  a  great  triumph  ;"  that  we  should  "  have  no  more 
congressional  slave  codes,  no  more  slave  territory,  no  more  slave  States," 
and  the  honorable  Senator  regarded  these  expressions  with  peculiar 
horror  and  bitterness. 

Mr.  Hale  insisted,  that  when  analyzed,  the  President's  message  was 
found  to  contain  three  propositions.  1st.  South  Carolina  has  just  cause 
to  secede.  2d.  She  has  no  right  to  secede.  3d.  The  Government  has 
no  right  to  prevent  secession.  He  declared,  however,  that  the  move 
ments  of  the  South  meant  war,  and  that  the  Senate  ought  to  look  the 
subject  full  in  the  face,  'and  prepare  to  meet  it.  He  characterized  as 
traitors  those  northern  editors  who  were  sustaining  southern  secession, 
and  asserted  with  great  force  that  all  pretence  that  the  North  had  fur 
nished  any  cause  for  secession  was  false  and  slanderous,  thus  exposing 
the  mendacity  of  the  annual  message  ;  and,  with  becoming  dignity,  he 


SLAVEHOLDING-  AEKOGANCE.  455 

hoped  that  the  incoming  President  would  maintain  the  doctrines  on 
which  he  had  been  elected.* 

Mr.  Brown,  of  Mississippi,  asserted  that  if  there  was  to  be  war,  the 
North  must  make  it,  as  the  South  would  not.")" 

Senator  Iverson,  of  Georgia,  regarded  the  general  hostility  to  slavery 
which  existed  among  the  people  of  the  North  as  utterly  prohibiting  all 
attempts  to  preserve  the  Union  ;  and  declared  that  the  repeal  of  "  per 
sonal  liberty  bills"  by  northern  Legislatures,  or  other  concessions,  would 
not  induce  the  South  to  remain  longer  in  the  Union.  But  he  asserted 
there  would  be  no  war,  and  alluded  in  offensive  language  to  northern 
cowardice.  J 

Mr.  Powell,  of  Virginia,  as  well  as  Mr.  Crittenden,  appeared  to  think 
that  the  Union  could  only  be  preserved  by  so  amending  the  Constitution 
as  to  change  the  essential  character  of  the  Government,  making  it  a 
slave-sustaining  confederation,  instead  of  adapting  its  energies  to  secur 
ing  liberty  ;  and  he  proposed  an  amendment  that  would  secure  the  right 
of  property  in  slaves  ;  believing  such  amendment  necessary  to  save  the 
Union. 

To  this  Mr.  Iverson,  of  Georgia,  replied  that  Virginia  was  deeply 
interested  in  preventing  secession  ;  for  if  the  cotton  States  seceded, 
Virginia  would  find  no  market  for  her  slaves,  without  which  that  State 
would  be  ruined.  To  these  remarks  neither  Mr.  Powell  nor  his  colleague 
took  exception.  § 

The  arrogance  and  self-importance  of  Senators  representing  cotton- 
growing  States  increased  in  proportion  as  northern  members  expressed  an 
anxiety  to  save  the  Union.  Their  supercilious  bearing  was  well  illustrated 
by  Mr.  Wigfall,  of  Texas,  who,  alluding  to  the  contemplated  rebellion, 
spoke  in  the  Senate  as  follows  :  "  /  say  Cotton  is  King,  and  that  he 
waves  his  sceptre  not  only  over  these  thirty-three  States,  but  over  the 
island  of  Great  Britain,  and  over  Continental  Europe.  And  there  is 


*  This  is  believed  to  be  the  first  assertion  in  the  Senate,  after  the  election,  of  a  determination  to 
sustain  the  doctrines  on  which  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  elected. 

t  This  was  said  to  have  been  the  agreement  between  northern  and  southern  Democrats ;  that  the 
South  would  not  commence  hostilities,  and  that  northern  Democrats  would  prevent  Republicans 
from  shedding  blood.  And  the  northern  democracy  subsequently  complained  that  by  commencing 
a  cannonade  on  Fort  Sumter,  the  South  violated  their  compact. 

$  General  Cass  was,  perhaps,  better  acquainted  with  the  views  and  feelings  of  southern  Demo 
crats  than  any  other  northern  man.  After  the  rebellion  broke  out,  he  declared  to  the  writer  his 
conviction  that  the  South  would  never  have  rebelled  if  they  had  entertained  the  belief  that  the 
northern  people  would  have  met  them  in  arms. 

§  Virginia  at  that  time  was  receiving  a  greater  income  from  the  rearing  and  selling  of  slaves  than, 
from  any  other  object  of  industry ;  indeed,  many  Virginians  computed  the  income  from  the  sale  of 
slaves  greater  than  that  derived  from  all  other  sources.  ( Vide  Debates  in  her  Convention  of 


456  SOUTHERN   GRIEVANCES   STATED. 

not  a  crowned  head  upon  that  island,  or  upon  the  Continent  that  does 
not  bend  in  fealty  and  acknowledge  allegiance  to  that  monarch." 

This  was  an  earnest  expression  of  the  real  feeling  of  both  Senators 
and  Representatives  of  the  cotton-growing  States.  They  really  felt  that 
France  and  England  were  dependent  on  them  for  the  important  article 
which  constituted  their  staple  product.  This  feeling  had  risen  from  the 
yielding  of  Great  Britain  to  the  demands  of  the  slave  power,  and  com 
pensating  our  slave  merchants  for  their  human  chattels  lost  by  being 
shipwrecked  on  British  islands.  France,  too,  had  stood  with  folded 
arms  and  witnessed  the  annexation  of  Texas  ;  and  when  officially 
informed  that  it  was  done  to  extend  slavery,  she  did  not  even  utter  a 
protest  in  behalf  of  our  common  humanity. 

The  past  policy  of  the  Government  was  now  rapidly  approaching  its 
culmination.  Since  1793,  northern  politicians  and  statesmen  had  yielded 
their  interests,  their  rights,  their  honor,  their  constitution,  to  the  de. 
mands  of  the  slave  power.  The  feeling  of  southern  superiority  had  been 
fostered,  flattered,  strengthened,  and  confirmed,  until  it  was  now  de 
veloping  itself  in  open  rebellion. 

Senator  Wade,  of  Ohio,  coolly  and  firmly  met  the  threats  and  super 
cilious  declamation  of  Messrs.  Wigfall  and  Iverson,  saying  that  the  con 
test  would  be  nothing  more  than  the  world  had.  often  witnessed  ;  it 
would  be  merely  a  trial  of  strength  between  the  loyal  and  the  rebellious 
States  ;  that  one  party  would  be  victorious,  and  the  other  would  suffer 
defeat.  As  to  the  doctrines  of  the  republican  party,  which  had  been 
denounced  as  unconstitutional,  and  under  which  it  had  been  said  the 
South  could  not  live,  he  would  merely  say  they  were  the  doctrines  of 
Washington  and  Jefferson,  and  their  associates,  in  founding  the  Govern 
ment,  which  was  organized  upon  these  principles  ;  and  he  desired  to 
understand  definitely  the  acts  of  which  the  South  complained. 

To  this  call  of  Mr.  Wade,  Mr.  Powell,  of  Yirginia,  responded  that 
Governor  Denuison,  of  Ohio,  had  refused  to  deliver  up  to  the  Executive 
of  Kentucky  a  man  charged  with  stealing  negroes.  This  language  was 
understood  to  mean  nothing  more  and  nothing  less  than  assisting  slaves 
to  escape  from  bondage,  which  was  regarded  by  the  Christian  world  as 
an  act  of  humanity,  and  no  crime.  Yet  Mr.  Powell,  and  slaveholders 
generally,  believed  that  whatever  the  Legislature  of  a  slave  State 
should  see  fit  to  declare  "  crime"  the  Federal  Government  was  bound  to 
regard  as  coming  within  the  constitutional  provision  concerning  "felony/' 
Nor  did  Mr.  Powell  stand  alone  in  thus  basing  his  vindication  of  the 
rebellion  upon  gross  errors  of  constitutional  law,  as  all  action  of  Con 
gress  involving  the  people  of  the  free  States  in  the  expense  and  dis- 


NORTHERN  PUSILLANIMITY.  457 

grace  of  sustaining  slavery  was  obviously  unauthorized  and  unconstitu 
tional. 

The  northern  mind  was  not  prepared  for  the  bold  attempt  now  mak 
ing  to  destroy  the  Union.  From  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  com 
plaints  had  been  made  that  slave-catchers  from  southern  States  had  kid 
napped  free  colored  persons  in  the  northern  portions  of  the  Union. 
These  complaints  were  for  many  years  presented  to  Congress,  but  the 
memorialists  received  in  answer  directions  to  apply  to  their  several  State 
legislators,  whose  duties  required  them  to  protect  thdr  own  people.  Ac 
cordingly,  several  northern  States  enacted  laws  for  the  protection  of 
their  free  colored  citizens.  These  enactments  were  now  assailed  by  the 
successors  of  those  members  of  Congress  who  had  advised  their  enact 
ment  ;  and  several  of  the  free  States,  in  consequence  of  denunciations  of 
southern  men,  changed  their  position,  and  in  derogation  of  their  own 
dignity,  repealed  the  laws  which  protected  the  rights  and  liberties  of 
colored  citizens  born  among  them. 

These  acts  of  northern  Legislatures  strengthened  the  advocates  of 
slavery  in  the  conviction  that  the  entire  North  would  surrender  every 
point  which  the  South  dem'anded.  Southern  agents  in  England  and 
France  assured  the  people  of  those  governments  that  there  would  be  no 
war  in  the  United  States  ;  and  this  opinion  was  very  generally  enter- 
tained  by  public  men  in  England,  who  could  not  believe  that  after  such 
long  forbearance  the  people  of  the  free  States  would  make  resistance 
to  the  demands  of  the  slave  power.* 

Men  now  saw  that  every  argument  and  every  effort  in  favor  of  yield 
ing  up  northern  interests,  northern  independence,  and  northern  honor,  to 
.the  demands  of  the  slave  power,  under  the  specious  plea  of  saving  the 
Union,  had  contributed  to  its  dissolution,  by  leading  southern  men  to 
believe  the  northern  States  were  entirely  subservient  to  the  interests  of 
the  South. 

On  the  12th  January,  the  Representatives  from  Mississippi,  by     ,1861 
a  written  communication  addressed  to  the  Speaker  of  the  House, 
informed  the  country  that  their  State  had  withdrawn  from  the  con" 
federacy  ;   but  on  the  14th,  Mr.  Brown,  of  that  State,  informed  the 
Senate  that  he  and  his  colleague  had  not  received  official  notice  of  the 
withdrawal  of  their  State*;  but  they  would  no  longer  participate  in  the 
business  of  the  Senate. 

Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  and  Louisiana,  now  followed  these  exam 
ples  of  secession  which  were  rapidly  precipitating  the  nation  into  civil  war. 

*  This  remark  is  made  upon  the  authority  of  intelligent  Englishmen,  with  whom  the  author  met 
in  the  years  1861-2. 


458  AMENDMENTS   TO    THE   CONSTITUTION   PROPOSED. 

On  the  2  8 tli  January,  the  President  communicated  to  the  two  Houses 
of  Congress  resolutions  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  proposing  a  convention 
of  delegates  from  the  various  States  to  meet  in  "Washington  City  "  for 
the  purpose  of  agreeing  upon  such  compromises  as  were  consistent  with 
the  Constitution,  so  as  to  afford  the  people  of  the,  slaveholding  States  ade 
quate  guarantees  for  security  of  their  rights." 

This  suggestion  of  a  convention  unknown  to  the  Constitution  was 
itself  revolutionary.  But  the  call  upon  the  free  States  to  give  security 
for  their  abiding  by  the  Constitution  was  regarded  by  men  of  spirit  as 
insulting  to  their  dignity.  Yet  some  of  the  executive  officers  of  free 
States  were  so  anxious  to  exert  every  instrumentality  to  save  the 
Union,  that  they  appointed  delegates,  and  finally  all  the  free  States 
yielded  to  this  supercilious  call  of  Virginia  to  appear  in  national  con 
vention  to  consult  on  such  further  guarantees  for  the  support  of 
slavery  as  would  satisfy  those  States  who  had  already  proclaimed 
their  departure  from  the  Union.  And  while  South  Carolina  was 
actually  gathering  and  disciplining  her  army,  erecting  fortifications,  and 
preparing  for  hostilities,  delegates  from  the  free  States  gravely  met  in 
convention  at  Washington  City,  to  consult  on  such  further  humiliation 
as  would  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  slave  power.  The  character  of  a 
majority  of  the  delegates  to  this  convention  was  well  illustrated  by  the 
choice  of  John  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  to  preside  over  their  deliberations. 
His  name  had  become  odious  to  the  lovers  of  liberty  from  his  efforts  to 
obtain  compensation  for  the  slavedealers  who  lost  their  bondmen  on 
board  the  "  Creole,"  in  1840,  his  approval  of  the  gag-rules,  his  apostacy 
from  the  party  who  elected  him,  his  labors  in  favor  of  the  annexation 
of  Texas,  and  his  uniform  devotion  to  slavery. 

By  the  selection  of  such  a  man  to  preside  over  its  proceedings,  the 
convention  lost  all  prestige,  and  after  several  weeks  a  majority  of  its 
members  advised  the  regularly  constituted  Congress  to  recommend 
the  State  Legislatures  to  agree  to  such  amendments  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  as  would  secure  the  master  a  compensation  for  his  fugitive 
slave  when  assisted  to  escape,  or  when  rescued  :  To  establish  slavery 
in  all  our  Territories  south  of  36  deg.  30  min.,  north-  latitude  :  To 
secure  the  admission  of  any  slave  State  that  may  apply  to  become  a 
member  of  the  Union  :  To  prohibit  Congress  from  abolishing  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  the  coastwise  slave  trade. 

These  propositions  were  transmitted  to  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  for 
approval,  but  were  rejected  unceremoniously  by  the  Senate  ;  nor  were 
they  treated  with  greater  respect  by  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Senator  Seward  had  been  a  candidate  for  nomination  of  President 


MR.   SEWARD   ON   THE   QUESTION   OF   UNION.  459 

before  the  convention  at  Chicago,  and  received  the  highest  vote  of  any 
candidate  except  the  President  elect.  From  this  circumstance  it  was 
generally  expected  that  he  would  be  selected  as  Secretary  of  State 
under  the  incoming  Administration.  He  was  regarded  as  possessing  a 
high  order  of  talents.  During  the  Presidential  campaign  he  had  spoken 
boldly  in  favor  of  freedom  ;  and  the  advocates  of  liberty  generally 
believed  him  a  firm  supporter  of  the  doctrines  which  all  regarded  as 
vital  to  the  support  of  a  free  government.  Under  these  circumstances  he 
was  expected  to  foreshadow  the  policy  of  the  incoming  President  ;  and 
great  interest  was  manifested  to  hear  him.  On  the  12th  January, 
while  speaking  on  the  President's  Message,  he  referred  to  various  expe" 
dients  for  saving  the  Union,  which  had  failed.  He  next  referred  to  the 
advantages  resulting  from  the  "  Union,"  by  which  term  he  appeared  to 
refer  to  the  association  of  States  and  of  the  power  of  their  concentrated 
influence  :  But  he  seemed  to  avoid  all  reference  to  the  "  essential 
truths,"  on  which  the  States  confederated  ;  which  constituted  the  moral 
entity  called  the  "  Union  ;"  without  which  the  association  would  not 
have  been  formed  and  could  not  have  existed.  Nor  did  he  speak  of  the 
primal  objects  and  ulterior  designs  of  those  who  founded  the  Govern 
ment.  He  manifested  a  strong  desire  that  the  States  should  main 
tain  their  alliance  with  each  other  ;  but  he  expressed  no  wish  to  main 
tain  the  essential  truths  on  which  the  association  had  been  formed. 
He  said,  somewhat  oracularly,  "  Republicanism  is  not  Union  ;  Demo 
cracy  is  not  Union — Republicanism  is  subordinate  to  Union  as  everything 
else  is  and  ought  to  be.  Republicanism,  Democracy,  every  other  political 
name  and  thing — all  are  subordinate,  and  they  ought  to  disappear  in  the 
presence  of  the  great  question  of  Union,  and  so  FAR  AS  I  -AM  CONCERNED,  IT 

SHALL  BE  SO." 

For  seventy  years  the  slave  power  had  endeavored  to  exclude  all 
democratic,  all  republican  principles  from  the  administration  of  govern 
ment,  in  order  to  render  it  a  slaveholding  oligarchy.  For  twenty-five 
years  the  advocates  of  reform  had  labored  to  restore  the  Government  to 
those  republican  and  democratic  principles  on  which  the  fathers  founded 
it.  A  party  distinctly  avowing  these  doctrines  had  been  formed  ;  had 
grown  up  ;  had  elected  a  majority  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  They  had  elevated  the  President  elect  to  the  highest 
office  of  the  nation,  with  the  full  expectation  that  he  would  support  the 
principles  avowed  by  them  ;  but  Mr.  Seward  now  declared,  that  so  far 
as  he  was  concerned,  these  doctrines  should  be  discarded  in  order  to  save 
the  Union,  which  had  already  been  transformed  to  an  insupportable  des 
potism  under  slaveholding  influence.  Republicans  would  not  believe 


460      THE  PEACE  CONGRESS  AND  THE  CONFEDERACY. 

i 

that  he  spoke  the  views  and  feelings  of  the  President  elect,  nor  would 
they  admit  that  he  intended  the  ordinary  import  of  his  own  language. 
Others  were  uncharitable.  They  quoted  the  language  of  Mr.  Iverson, 
who  had  openly  declared  that  'there  would  le  no  war  ;  that  "  the  far- 
reaching  satesmanship  of  the  Senator  from  New  York  would  prevent  a 
war,"  and  suggested  that  the  two  Senators  were  acting  in  concert.  It 
is  certain  that  many  republican ,  Senators  entirely  dissented  from  the 
policy  enunciated  by  Mr.  Seward  ;  and  this  difference  of  opinion  con 
tinued  and  became  still  more  distinct  after  that  gentleman  assumed  the 
duties  of  Secretary  of  State.  Another  point  in  this  address  was  quite 
unsatisfactory  to  Republicans.  That  party  had  laid  it  down  as  a  uni 
versal  principle  that  every  human  being  holds  from  the  Creator  an  impre 
scriptible  right  to  live  and  enjoy  liberty.  The  Supreme  Court,  on  be 
half  of  the  democratic  party,  denied  this  doctrine,  saying,  "  Black  men 
have  no  rights  that  white  men  are  bound  to  respect."  This  constituted 
the  issue.  And  Mr.  Seward  now  tacitly  espoused  the  doctrine  of  the 
Court  instead  of  the  republican  principle,  saying  that  the  fugitive  act 
was  constitutional  and  ought  to  be  enforced.  He  further  asserted  that 
all  State  laws  which  interfered  with  it  ought  to  be  repealed. 

But  these  pledges  of  subserviency  to  the  slave  power  appeared  to 
have  no  favorable  effect  upon  southern  rebels.  Alabama,  Georgia, 
Florida,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana,  proceeded  to  declare  their  separa 
tion  from  the  Union  ;  while  South  Carolina  steadily  continued  to  raise 
troops,  erect  fortifications,  discipline  her  army,  and  make  every  possible 
preparation  for  the  coming  conflict.  Early  in  January  hostilities  com 
menced.  The  steamer  "  Star  of  the  West,"  carrying  supplies  to  Fort 
Sumter,  entered  Charleston  harbor  under  the  flag  of  the  United  States. 
The  rebel  batteries  on  Morris  Island  opened  fire  upon  her  and  compelled 
her  to  return  without  landing.  But  while  the  rebels  were  thus  firing 
upon  our  flag,  the  "Peace  Congress"  was  engaged  in  deliberating  upon 
further  surrenders  and  further  guarantees  to  slavery  :  Indeed,  while  that 
body  was  thus  engaged,  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the  seceding 
States  were  actively  laboring  to  form  a  constitution  for  the  new  Con 
federacy,  and  organizing  a  government  so  as  to  combine  all  their  forces 
against  the  loyal  States. 

This  Convention  was  sitting  at  Montgomery,  Alabama.  The  support 
of  slavery  constituted  the  first  and  most  prominent  feature  of  the  con 
stitution  of  the  "  Southern  Confederacy."  It  was  the  first  instance  in 
which  a  people  had  associated  under  a  written  constitution,  pledging 
their  powers  to  the  support  of  oppression. 

Mr.  Floyd,  the  Secretary  of  War,  had  sent  to  Texas  ordnance,  arms, 


TWO    GOVERNMENTS    IN    OPERATION.  461 

ammunition  and  vast  military  supplies,  under  pretence  of  furnishing 
the  army  stationed  upon  the  frontier  of  that  State.  As  yet  Texas  tad 
passed  no  ordinance  of  secession  ;  but  fearing  that  these  stores  would  be 
reclaimed  by  the  Federal  Government,  her  authorities  demanded  of 
General  Twiggs,  then  in  command  of  the  troops,  the  delivery  of  this 
vast  amount  of  public  property  to  them. 

General  Twiggs  was  a  citizen  of  Mississippi  and  a  secessionist.  He  at 
once  surrendered  some  two  thousand  troops  and  four  millions  dollars 
worth  of  military  supplies  to  the  commander  of  a  few  hundred  militia  of 
Texas. 

During  the  month  of  February,  the  Senators  and  Representatives  of 
Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Florida  vacated  their  seats 
in  Congress,  having  received  official  notice  that  those  States  had  severed 
their  connection  with  the  Federal  Government. 

The  constitution  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  was  adopted,  and  six 
of  the  thirty-three  States  were  acting  under  a  separate  confederacy,  and 
had  their  army  in  the  field  ;  four  other  States  were  rapidly  perfecting  their 
acts  of  secession  :  and  the  two  hostile  governments  were  in  full  operation 
before  the  close  of  the  democratic  administration.  For  more  than  half 
a  century  the  slave  power  had  ruled  the  nation  under  the  disguise  of 
Democracy.  That  organization  had  devoted  its  energies  to  the  encourage 
ment  and  ^support  of  slavery.  Its  members  had  identified  themselves 
with  the  institution  to  such  an  extent  that,  when  the  regime  of  slavery 
ceased,  the  democratic  party  could  no  longer  maintain  its  former 
prestige.  Yet  its  leaders,  in  their  blindness,  seized  upon  the  pillars  of 
the  political  temple,  and  disappeared  amid  the  moral  and  political  ruins 
which  they  had  brought  upon  the  country,  leaving  to  the  Republicans  a 
dismembered  Government  and  civil  war. 

The  rebellion  had  progressed  thus  far  at  the  close  of  the  thirty-sixth 
Congress.  Yet  the  Republicans  of  that  body  made  no  movement — 
passed  no  law,  provided  no  means  for  suppressing  hostilities.  The 
reasons  assigned  were  that  it  was  hoped  that  the  rebellious  States  would 
return  to  their  loyalty  ;  if  the  northern  States  would  repeal  their  per 
sonal  liberty  laws,  Enforce  the  fugitive  slave  act,  give  further  guarantees 
to  slavery,  abandon  the  doctrines  of  Republicanism  and  disband  that 
organization,  as  had  been  proposed. 


462 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

INAUGURATION   OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN — HIS  POSITION  REGARDING  SLAVERY 

ACTION  OF  CONGRESS HIS  PROCLAMATION  OF  FREEDOM — RAISING  OF  NEGRO 

TROOPS,   AND    A    WAR    FOR    FREEDOM. 

THE  4th  March,  A.D.  1861,  will  long  mark  an  incident  in  the  history 
of  the  United  States.  A  republican  President  was  then  inaugurated, 
and  the  Government  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  party  who  elected  him. 
Many,  very  many  electors  who  voted  for  the  incoming  President  had, 
since  the  speech  of  Mr.  Seward,  entertained  gloomy  apprehensions  that 
they  were  once  more  to  be  deceived  ;  that  the  new  Administration  would 
surrender  the  doctrines  of  the  party  and  become  subservient  to  the  slave 
power.  Opponents  also  boasted  that  a  republican  Administration  could 
not  guide  the  Government  amid  the  storms  and  strifes  of  civil  war,  which 
now  appeared  imminent.  Yet  the  President's  most  intimate  friends 
entertained  a  perfect  confidence  in  his  integrity.  That  was  the  only 
pledge  he  had  given.  His  experience  in  public  life  had  been  limited  ;  he 
had  never  enjoyed  the  opportunity  of  giving  to  the  nation  evidence  of 
his  capacity  for  the  high  position  to  which  he  had  been  elected  ;  yet,  the 
eyes  of  thirty  millions  of  people  were  upon  him,  watching  every  word 
and  every  act. 

In  his  inaugural  he  simply  reasserted  the  doctrines  of  those  who 
elected  him  in  regard  to  slavery  in  the  States  and  in  the,  Territories. 
With  them  he  also  discarded  the  doctrine  that  the  Supreme  Court  were 
to  construe  the  Constitution  for  other  departments  of  government. 

In  relation  to  the  rebellion  he  was  conciliatory  but  firm.  This  was 
looked  upon  as  the  great  point  in  his  inaugural  address.  It  was  regarded 
as  the  seminal  thought  from  which  all  other  questions  of  policy  must 
spring.  He  showed  no  disposition  to  surrender  any  legitimate  interest 
for  the  purpose  of  inducing  the  seceding  States  to  return  to  their  loyalty; 
while  he  stood  forth  boldly  in  advance  of  all  his  predecessors,  demand 
ing  legal  protection  for  northern  colored  citizens  while  travelling  in  the 
South. 

But  he  had  not  studied  the  philosophy  of  human  governments,  nor 
analyzed  their  powers,  so  far  as  to  see  clearly  that  neither  human  laws, 
nor  human  constitutions,  nor  human  power,  could  give  to  one  man,  or  to 


COMMENCEMENT  OF   HOSTILITIES.  463 

any  set  of  men,  rightful  authority  over  the  lives  or  the  liberties  of  an 
innocent  and  unoffending  people.  On  the  contrary,  he  asserted  that  the 
Constitution  had  provided  for  the  surrender  of  fugitive  slaves,  either  by 
the  States  or  by  the  Federal  Government,  and  he  seemed  to  acknowledge 
that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  possessed  the  legitimate  power  to 
impose  upon  their  descendants  some  sort  of  obligation  to  seize  their 
fellow-men  while  fleeing  from  oppression  and  return  them  to  bondage. 
On  this  point  it  was  evident  that  his  mind  had  not  been  led  to  analyze 
the  transcendent  crime  of  enslaving  or  of  reenslaving  innocent  persons. 

Yet  the  writer  would  do  injustice  to  Mr.  Lincoln  were  he  to  omit 
saying  that  his  inaugural  was  just  what  his  friends  who  were  best 
acquainted  with  him  expected.  They  understood  his  positions,  and  in 
public  and  in  private  insisted  that  the  logic  of  events  would  bring  his 
mind  to  the  full  appreciation  of  the  crimes  of  slavery. 

Nor  would  the  writer  do  justice  to  the  reformers  of  that  day  ,18€1 
were  he  to  omit  saying  they  did  not  expect  Mr.  Lincoln  to  make 
up  his  Cabinet  from  those  who  had  long  been  prominent  in  the  advocacy 
of  Republicanism.  They  only  demanded  three  of  the  seven  Cabinet 
officers.  To  that  request  the  President  cordially  responded :  and  in 
compliance  appointed  Messrs.  Seward,  Chase  and  Wells  as  members  of 
his  Cabinet ;  while  Messrs.  Cameron,  Bates,  Smith  and  Blair  were 
regarded  as  more  conservative  in  character.  To  them  no  objection  was 
made  by  the  advocates  of  liberty,  as  all  believed  they,  too,  would  come 
up  to  the  support  of  truth  and  justice,  as  events  should  constrain  them 
to  meet  the  responsibilities  of  their  several  positions.  With  this  Cabinet, 
and  under  these  circumstances,  President  Lincoln  entered  upon  that 
mighty  conflict  between  freedom  and  slavery,  between  justice  and  crime, 
which  has  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Christian  world. 

The  cannonade  of  Fort  Sumter,  and  the  attempted  massacre  of  the 
Massachusetts  troops  while  marching  through  Baltimore  to  the  relief  of 
Washington  City,  aroused  the  people  of  the  free  States  to  a  realization 
of  the  fact  that  they  were  already  precipitated  upon  a  momentous  dml 
war. 

The  President  issued  his  proclamation  calling  for  seventy-five  thousand 
troops,  under  the  law  of  1195,  in  order  to  suppress  the  rebellion. 

In  all  parts  of  the  free  States  volunteers  were  called  for  ;  companies 
and  regiments  were  formed,  and  hurried  to  the  field.  The  attention  of 
all  was  directed  to  our  armies,  and  the  subject  of  slavery  was  apparently 
forgotten  in  the  all-absorbing  interest  of  existing  hostilities. 

The  battles  fought  and  the  victories  lost  and  won  during  that 
war  will  long  mark  an  important  era  in  the  progress  of  Christian 


464:      REBELS  IN  ALL  DEPARTMENTS  OF  GOVERNMENT. 

civilization  ;  of  them  it  is  not  the  intention  of  the  writer  to  speak. 
That  duty  must  devolve  upon  some  younger,  some  more  ambitious  his 
torian  ;  but  the  writer  stands  pledged  to  lay  before  the  reader  a  careful 
narrative  of  the  efforts  of  the  Federal  Government  to  support,  extend, 
and  perpetuate  slavery,  and  of  its  final  separation  from  that  insti 
tution. 

1861  ]  -^or  more  ^an  ^ty  vears  Congress  had  legislated  for  the  bene 
fit  of  oppression,  in  direct  and  unequivocal  hostility  to  the  doc 
trines  laid  down  as  the  basis  of  our  Government.  At  the  time  of  which 
we  are  now  writing,  however,  a  large  majority  of  our  statesmen,  politi 
cians,  and  people  entertained  the  opinion  that  there  was  some  vague, 
some  undefined  moral  or  political  obligation  resting  upon  the  Govern 
ment  and  people  of  the  free  States  to  uphold  and  encourage  slavery.  It 
is  certain  that  a  majority  of  the  politicians  of  the  free  States,  forgetting 
that  our  Government  had  been  established  for  the  purpose  of  securing 
life  and  liberty  to  every  human  soul,  really  believed  that  they  were 
bound  to  seize  the  fugitive  slave  as  he  fled  from  bondage  and  carry  him 
back  to  chains  and  suffering.  In  short,  they  now  felt  and  urged  that 
patriotism  consisted  in  depriving  a  portion  of  mankind  of  those  preroga 
tives  which  the  government  had  been  instituted  to  secure. 

This  feeling  was  cherished  by  adhering  Democrats,  and  by  all  that 
class  of  men  who,  having  once  belonged  to  the  whig  party,  now  refused 
to  unite  with  the  radical  Republicans. 

Advocates  of  oppression  were  found  in  all  the  States  and  in  all  depart 
ments  of  the  Government.  Many  were  holding  nominal  relation  to  the 
republican  party,  and  were  among  the  most  clamorous  applicants  for 
office.  They  held  seats  in  both  Houses  of  Congress;  and  much  of  the 
patronage  of  each  House  was  bestowed  on  men  whose  influence  was  ex 
erted  for  the  support  of  slavery.  In  the  executive  departments  and  in  the 
army  were  men  whose  sympathies  were  in  favor  of  that  institution.  Their 
latent  influence  was  at  all  times  exerted  in  favor  of  it,  paralyzing  the 
efforts  of  the  President,  and  of  those  who  were  striving  to  suppress  the 
rebellion.  Indeed,  General  Butler,  while  marching  the  troops  of  Massa 
chusetts  to  the  defence  of  Washington,  took  occasion  to  assure  the  Gov 
ernor  of  Maryland  that  the  army  under  his  command  would  put  down 
any  slave  insurrection  that  might  arise  in  that  State,  and  that  any  call 
of  the  Governor  of  Maryland  for  troops  to  be  used  for  such  purpose 
would  be  promptly  complied  with  by  the  officers  and  men  of  Massa 
chusetts. 

But  this  voluntary  prostitution  of  the  military  power  of  Massachu 
setts  to  uphold  slavery  in  Maryland  attracted  the  attention  of  Governor 


McCLELLAN   PROCLAIMS    DEVOTION   TO    SLAVERY.  465 

Andrews,  chief  magistrate  of  that  first  commonwealth  of  New  England, 
who  remonstrated  with  General  Butler  ;  and  that  officer,  acting  before 
the  public  under  such  responsibility,  saw  his  error,  discarded  the  claims 
of  slavery,  and  soon  became  one  of  the  most  distinguished  supporters 
of  republican  doctrines  employed  in  the  military  service  of  the  Govern; 
ment. 

Major-General  McClellan,  placed  in  command  of  the  Ohio  troops,  on 
entering  Western  Virginia  issued  his  proclamation  informing  the  rebels 
of  that  region  that  he  and  his  troops  would  not  only  abstain  from  as 
sisting  slaves  'to  obtain  their  freedom,  but  they  would  crush  any  insurrec 
tion  of  slaves  against  those  who  were  employed  in  shooting  down  our 
troops  :  Nor  are  we  informed  that  General  McClellan  at  any  time 
changed  his  mind  on  this  subject.  Indeed,  officers  in  command  of  our 
troops  often  employed  them  in  guarding  the  property  of  rebels  serving 
in  the  Confederate  army.  It  was  charged,  through  the  public  press, 
that  the  dwelling  and  property  of  General  Lee,  in  Eastern  Virginia,  was 
carefully  guarded  by  order  of  General  McClellan,  while  our  sick  soldiers 
were  subjected  to  the  inclemancy  of  the  weather,  and  died  without  shel 
ter  in  sight  of  that  princely  residence,  preserved  from  occupation  by  loyal 
bayonets.  • 

During  the  vacation  of  Congress,  Virginia,  Texas,  Arkansas,  Ten. 
nessee,  and  North  Carolina  passed  ordinances  of  secession,  and  united 
their  arms  with  those  of  the  States  which  had  previously  rebelled. 

On  the  4th  July  the  thirty-seventh  Congress  met,  in  pursuance  ,1861 
of  the  President's  proclamation,  in  order  to  provide  the  necessary 
means  for  suppressing  hostilities.  On  calling  the  roll  of  members,  eleven 
States  did  not  appear.  The  withdrawal  of  so  many  slave  States  left  the 
republican  party  in  undisputed  control  of  both  branches  of  Congress  as 
well  as  of  the  Executive  Departments.  No  party  had  ever  been  in  pos 
session  of  such  undisputed  control  of  our  Federal  Government.  Their 
doctrines  commended  themselves  to  the  judgment  and  conscience  of  the 
Christian  world  :  Indeed,  no  Democrat,  no  slaveholder  could  be  induced 
publicly  to  take  issue  upon  the  principles  inscribed  upon  the  republican 
banners.  To  deny  their  doctrines  would  have  been  a  denial  of  the  essen 
tial  truths  on  which  the  Union  had  been  founded ;  and  no  northern  man 
dared  utter  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  rebellion,  although  many 
secretly  favored  it. 

A  strange  hallucination  now  appeared  to  come  over  the  minds  of 
members  of  Congress.  Mr.  Seward  had  declared  that  "  Republicanism 
ought  to  disappear  in  the  presence  of  questions  touching  the  Union  ;" 
and  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  he  declared  it  shouM  be  so.  With 

30 


466 

these  avowals  he  had  assumed  the  office  of  Premier  of  the  republican 
Administration.  As  Secretary  of  State  he  instructed  our  representa 
tive  at  the  Court  of  St.  James  to  assure  the  Ministers  of  her  Britannic 
Majesty  that  the  President  intended  to  bring  back  the  rebel  States  with 
their  institutions  unchanged  ;  indeed,  he  insisted  that  they  were  to  be 
'reinstated  in  all  their  former  relations  to  the  Government  and  to  the 
people  of  the  free  States. 

Upon  these  official  avowals  of  our  own  statesmen,  European  ministers 
asserted  that  neither  the  cause  of  justice  nor  of  liberty  entered  into  or 
constituted  any  part  of  the  objects  or  motives  for  suppressing  the  rebel 
lion  :  That  as  these  objects  were  discarded  by  our  Executive,  there 
could  be  no  other  design  than  merely  to  hold  the  southern  States  in 
subjection  to  the  free  States,  contrary  to  the  doctrine  of  our  revolution 
ary  fathers. 

Mr.  Seward  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  profound  politicians 
of  the  age.  His  suggestion  for  an  abandonment  of  the  republican 
doctrines,  the  enforcement  of  the  fugitive  slave  act,  and  repeal  of  all 
State  laws  enacted  for  protecting  northern  freemen  was  in  precise 
accordance  with  the  desire  of  those  who  adhered  to  the  democratic 
party,  and  of  all  who  were  in  favor  of  sustaining  slavery.  Mem 
bers  of  Congress,  instead  of  boldly  asserting  the  doctrines  on  which  they 
could  only  hope  for  vindication — doctrines  on  which  they  had  themselves 
been  elected  to  office — and  at  once  providing  ample  means  for  suppress 
ing  the  rebellion,  proceeded  to  advise  the  people  to  surrender  those 
doctrines  and  to  unite  cordially  with  men  who  had  ever  favored  the 
prostitution  of  the  Federal  power  to  the  support  of  slavery. 

^n  ^is  as  on  ot^er  su^Jects  tne  writer  would  do  no  injustice 
to  any  of  the  public  men  of  that  important  period  of  our  history. 
He  can  only  speak  with  positive  assurance  of  the  Republican  Senators 
,and  Representatives  of  Ohio.  It  is  certain  that  they  united,  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  the  republican  committee  of  that  State,  advising  them  to 
call  a  convention  of  all  men,  without  distinction  of  party,  who  were  in 
favor  of  the  Union  and  of  suppressing  the  rebellion,  without  asserting 
any  principles  as  the  basis  of  their  action.  It  is  also  certain  that  the 
three  large  and  commanding  States  of  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  New 
York,  no  longer  adhered  to  the  doctrines  proclaimed  at  Philadelphia. 
New  England,  Michigan,  and  one  or  two  other  States,  adhered  to  their 
integrity,  promptly  refusing  to  unite  in  this  political  suicide  :  But  in 
Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  York,  men  were  nominated  and  elected  to 
office  by  Republicans  who  had  ever  sustained  the  institution  of  slavery, 
and  persistently  opposed  the  vital  principles  of  republicanism.  They 


t 

DEBATE  IN  THE  ENGLISH  PAELIAMENT.          467 

were,  however,  loudest  in  their  protestations  for  restoring  the  Union, 
and  anxious  to  put  down  the  rebellion  by  rendering  the  people  of  the 
free  States  still  more  subservient  to  the  slave  interest. 

Northern  Democrats  were  now  inspired  with  the  hope  that  Republicans 
would  surrender  the  political  power  which  they  had  obtained  after  years 
of  toil,  and  consent  that  the  democratic  party  should  resume  control 
of  the  Government. 

Messrs.  Cobden  and  Bright,  and  other  members  of  the  British  Parlia 
ment,  known  to  be  decided  advocates  of  republican  principles,  no  longer 
spoke  in  favor  of  our  efforts  in  the  cause  of  civilization.  The  reformers 
of  England  and  of  Europe  generally  became  silent  in  regard  to  the  doc 
trines  for  which  the  reformers  of  our  own  country  had  so  long  and  so 
steadily  contended. 

But  while  the  friends  of  Christian  progress  in  Europe  became  silent 
on  the  subject  of  American  freedom,  the  supporters  of  aristocracy 
assumed  to  speak  of  American  statesmen  and  the  American  Govern 
ment  in  terms  offensive  and  arrogant.  An  extraordinary  instance  of 
supercilious  impertinence  deserves  a  place  among  recorded  events  of 
that  day. 

General  Butler  was  in  military  command  of  New  Orleans,  ,18gl 
having  driven  the  enemies'  troops  from  that  city.  Many  female 
residents,  sympathizing  with  the  rebels,  so  far  uaeexed  themselves  as  to 
insult  our  soldiers  while  on  the  public  streets.  These  insults  became 
common,  and  in  order  to  prevent  their  recurrence,  the  commanding 
general  issued  an  order  that  females  who  should  publicly  insult  soldiers 
upon  the  streets,  should  be  arrested  and  punished  as  "  women  of  the 
town."  •>'«i* 

This  attempt  of  a  military  officer  to  maintain  order,  and  command 
the  respect  of  the  people,  was  complained  of  by  secessionists,  and  the 
subject  became  a  matter  of  grave  debate  in  the  British  Parliament. 
Noble  lords,  standing  before  the  civilized  world,  gravely  debated  the  pro 
priety  of  this  order  of  a  military  officer  concerning  the  kwd  women  of  a 
rebel  city,  complaining  that  such  treatment  of  rebel  females  of  doubtful 
character,  was  inhuman  and  barbarous,  a  fit  subject  for  criticism  in  the 
legislative  councils  of  a  friendly  nation. 

The  efforts  of  our  military  officers  to  capture  and  return  fugitive  slaves 
to  their  rebel  masters  became  so  common  as  to  reflect  disgrace  upon  the 
army.  They  could  not  plead  either  the  laws  of  any  State  or  of  Con 
gress  in  extenuation  of  the  crime  which  thus  degraded  American 
soldiers.  Their  action  was  purely  voluntary  ;  and  Mr.  Lovejoy,  of 
Illinois,  feeling  indignant  at  the  disgrace  thus  brought  upon  our  arms, 


4:68  VOTE   ON   SLAVE-CATCHING. 

presented  a  resolution  declaring  that  "the  capture  and  return  of 
fugitive  slaves  constituted  no  part  of  the  duty  of  American  soldiers." 
Yet  this  resolution  was  opposed  by  adhering  Democrats  and  pro- 
slavery  members  generally.  The  vote  of  the  several  States  was  as  fol 
lows,  to  wit : 

MAINE.  Yeas — Messrs.  Walton,  Fessenden,  Rice,  and  Pike,  .  .  4 
NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  Yeas — Messrs.  Rollins  and  Edwards,  ...  2 
VERMONT.  Yeas — Messrs.  Walton,  Morrill,  and  Baxter,  ...  3 
MASSACHUSETTS.  Yeas — Messrs.  Eliot,  Buffinton,  Thomas,  Rice, 

Alley,  Grooch,  Train,  Delano,  Dawes,  and  Bailey,  .     .     .10 

CONNECTICUT.     Yea — Mr.  Loomis, 1 

Nay — Messrs.  English  and  Woodruff, 2 

NEW  YORK.  Yeas — Messrs.  Wall,  F.  A.  Concklin,  Van  Wyck, 
Baker,  Olin,  McKean,  Wheeler,  Sherman,  Franchot, 
R.  Concklin,  Duell,  Lansing,  Clark,  Sedgwick,  Pome- 
roy,  Chamberlain,  Diven,  Van  Volkenburg,  Ely,  Frank, 

Van  Horn,  Spaulding,  and  Fenton, 23 

Nays — Messrs.  Smith,  Odell,  Wood,  Haight,  Ward,  and 

Steele, 6 

NEW  JERSEY.    Yea — Mr.  Stratton, 1 

Nays — Messrs.  Nixon,  Steele,  and  Cobb,    .......     3 

PENNSYLVANIA.    Yeas— Messrs.  Verree,  Kelley,  Davis,  Hickman, 
Stevens,  Killinger,  Campbell,  Hale,  McPherson,  Blair, 
Covode,  Morehead,  Wallace,  Patton,  Babbitt,     .     .     .15 
Nays — Messrs.  Cooper,  Ancona,  Wright,  Johnson,  Bailey, 

Lazear 6 

OHIO.  Yeas — Messrs.  Gurley,  Ashley,  Shellabarger,  Trimble,  Wor 
cester,  Blake,  Cutler,  Edgerton,  Riddle,  Hutchins,  and 

Bingham, 11 

Nays — Messrs.   Pendleton,  Vallandigham,   Allen,  White, 

Noble,  Horton,  Cox,  and  Nugen, 8 

INDIANA.    Yeas — Messrs.  Dunn,  Julian,  Porter,  White,  Colfax, 

Mitchell,  Shanks, 7 

Nays — Messrs.  Cravens  and  Holman, 2 

ILLINOIS.    Yeas — Messrs.  Washburne,  Arnold,  and  Lovejoy,  .     .     3 
Nays — Messrs.  Kellogg,  Richardson,  McClernand,  Robin 
son,  Fouke,  and  Logan, 6 

MISSOURI.     Yeas — Messrs.  Blair  and  Rollins, 2 

Nay— Mr.  Noell, .    Jgg**'«*ft 1 

MICHIGAN.     Yeas — Messrs.  Granger,  Beaman,  Kellogg,  and  Trow- 

bridge, '.     .     4 


VOTE   ON   FREEDOM  AND   CONFISCATION.  469 

IOWA.     Yea — Mr.  Vandever,     .     .     .    ' 1 

WISCONSIN.     Yeas — Messrs.  Potter  and  Sloan, 2 

MINNESOTA.     Yeas — Messrs.  Aldrich  and  Windom, 2 

KANSAS.     Yea — Mr.  Conway 1 

RHODE  ISLAND,     Nay — Mr.  Sheffield, 1 

DELAWARE.     Nay — Mr.  Fisher, 1 

MARYLAND.     Nays — Menirs.  Crisfield,  Webster,  Thomas,  and  Cal- 

vert, 4 

VIRGINIA.     Nays — Messrs.  Whaley,  Carlisle,  and  Upton,    ...     3 
KENTUCKY.     Nays — Messrs.  Burnet,  Jackson,   Grider,  Harding, 
Wickliffe,   Dunlap,  Mallory,  Menzies,  Crittenden,  and 

Wadsworth, 10 

A  bill  confiscating  the  property  of  rebels  was  debated  at  great  length 
in  both  Houses,  and  was  so  amended  as  to  give  freedom  to  all  slaves 
who  should  be  employed  in  aiding  the  rebellion  by  erecting  batteries, 
forts,  or  in  digging  rifle-pits.  This  bill  met  with  strong  opposition,  but 
upon  its  final  passage,  members  from  the  various  States  voted  as  fol 
lows  :  From  Maine,  Messrs.  Walton  and  Fessenden  ;  from  New  Hamp 
shire,  Rollins  and  Edwards ;  from  Vermont,  Walton,  Morrill,  and 
Baxter  ;  from  Massachusetts,  Eliot,  Buffinton,  Thomas,  Rice,  Alley 
and  Train  voted  in  the  affirmative  ;  from  Connecticut,  Mr.  Loomis  voted 
aye,  and  Mr.  English  no  ;  from  Rhode  Island,  Mr.  Sheffield  voted  aye, 
and  Mr.  Browne  no  ;  from  New  York,  Messrs.  R.  Coucklin,  Olin, 
McKean,  Wheeler,  Sherman,  Franchot,  Duell,  Lansing,  Clark,  Sedg- 
wick,  Chamberlain,  Frank,  Van  Horn,  Spaulding  and  Fenton  voted  for 
the  bill,  while  Messrs.  Diven,  Smith,  Odell,  Haight  and  Steele  voted 
against  it ;  from  Pennsylvania,  Messrs.  Verree,  Kelley,  Stevens,  Blair, 
Covode,  Wallace  and  Babbitt  voted  in  the  affirmative,  and  Messrs.  Mc- 
Pherson,  Ancona,  Hale,  Johnson  and  Bailey  voted  in  the  negative  ; 
from  Ohio,  Messrs.  Gurley,  Hutchins,  Ashley,  Shellabarger  and  Bing- 
harn  voted  for  the  bill,  and  Messrs.  Morris,  Pendleton,  Vallandigham, 
Allen,  Noble,  Horton  and  Cox  voted  against  it ;  from  Indiana,  Messrs. 
Julian,  White,  Colfax  and  Mitchell  voted  in  favor  of  the  bill,  and 
Messrs.  Dunn,  Holman,  Porter,  Cravens,  Law  and  Voorhees  voted 
against  it ;  from  Illinois,  Messrs.  Arnold,  Lovejoy  and  Kellogg  voted 
for  the  bill,  and  Messrs.  Robinson,  McClernand  and  Fouke  voted 
against  it ;  from  Missouri,  Mr.  Blair  voted  in  favor  of  the  bill,  and 
Messrs.  Rollins,  Norton  and  Reid  voted  against  its  passage  ;  from 
Michigan,  Messrs.  Granger,  Beaman  and  Kellogg  ;  from  Wisconsin, 
Messrs.  Potter  and  Sloan  ;  from  Minnesota,  Messrs.  Aldrich  and  Win 
dom  voted  for  the  bill ;  from  Maryland,  Messrs.  May,  Calvert,  Webster, 


4:70  GENERAL    FREMONT    PROCLAIMS   LIBERTY. 

Thomas  and  Crisfield  ;  from  Kentucky,  Messrs.  Burnet,  Jackson,  G rider, 
Harding,  Wickliffe,  Dunlap,  Mallory,  Menzies,  Crittenden  and  Wads- 
worth  opposed  its  passage  ;  and  Mr.  Shiel,  of  Oregon,  united  with  them. 
The  bill  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of  51  to  48. 
1861 ,  This  enactment  became  memorable  as  the  first  law  of  Con 
gress,  enacted  subsequent  to  1781,  that  gave  liberty  to  any  por 
tion  of  the  enslaved  population  of  these  United  States.  The  legislation 
of  Congress  had  been  in  favor  of  continuing  and  extending  the  institu 
tion  since  1793,  thereby  increasing  and  strengthening  the  very  crime 
which  now  struck  at  the  nation's  life.  Men  saw  that  Messrs.  Clay, 
and  Webster,  and  Fillmore,  and  Jackson,  and  Yan  Buren,  and  Polk, 
and  Pierce,  and  Buchanan,  had  contributed  to  the  existing  rebellion 
just  so  far  as  they  had  lent  their  influence  to  strengthen  slavery  : 
it  was  equally  obvious  that  Mr.  Adams  and  those  who  acted  with  him 
in  striving  to  separate  the  Federal  Government  from  all  support  of 
that  institution,  had  exerted  their  influence  to  preserve  our  Govern 
ment,  and  to  prevent  rebellion.  Indeed,  members  of  Congress  who 
a  few  weeks  previously  advised  the  abandonment  of  the  republican 
principles  and  party,  now  voted  for  this  bill,  finding  themselves  con 
strained  to  vote  for  the  very  doctrines  which  they  had  so  recently 
repudiated.  Nor  did  the  President  hesitate  to  sign  the  bill :  and 
Mr.  Seward,  constituting  one  of  the  Cabinet,  is  supposed  to  have 
yielded  his  approval,  as  there  is  no  evidence  of  his  having  dissented  from 
his  associates.  The  old  men  of  the  nation  who  had  long  felt  the 
necessity  of  purifying  our  Government  from  the  crimes  of  slavery, 
now  felt  that  Congress  and  the  Executive  had  taken  a  step  in  the 
right  direction  ;  for  they  saw  clearly  that  the  institution  had  throttled 
the  Government ;  that  slavery  and  the  Union  were  in  a  death-strug 
gle  ;  that  one  only  could  survive,  while  the  other  must  perish.  It  had 
been  in  the  power  of  Congress  to  withdraw  its  influence  from  slavery, 
and  thereby  save  bloodshed,  until  within  the  last  five  years  ;  but  that 
policy  was  not  adopted,  and  now  it  was  too  late,  and  the  life  of  the 
nation  could  only  be  preserved  by  the  death  of  slavery. 

But  this  was  an  extraordinary  session  of  Congress,  called  to  provide 
ways  and  means  for  prosecuting  the  war  ;  and  no  further  action  was 
had  directly  affecting  slavery  until  the  reassembling  of  that  body  hi 
December  following. 

General  Fremont,  placed  in  command  of  the  Western  Department, 
issued  a  proclamation,  emancipating  the  slaves  within  his  military 
district.  It  was  a  policy  which  appeared  not  only  just,  bat  necessary. 
Yet  there  was  such  a  strong  feeling  in  favor  of  slavery  among  men  who 


GEN.    HALLECK   EXCLUDES    SLAVES   FKOM   HIS    LINES.          471 

adhered  to  the  democratic  party,  and  those  Whigs  who  cherished  their 
ancient  prejudices,  and  among  military  officers  ;  and  such  were  the  re 
monstrances  presented  to  the  President,  that  he  issued  a  counter  order, 
setting  aside  that  of  General  Fremont,  declaring  that  he  had  reserved  to 
himself  the  question  of  emancipation,  by  military  authority,  and  would 
act  upon  it  at  the  dictates  of  his  own  judgment.  General  Fremont  was 
soon  recalled,  and  General  Halleck  was  appointed  to  command  that 
department.  Aware  of  the  dissatisfaction  with  General  Fremont's 
attempt  to  give  liberty  and  do  justice  to  the  enslaved  people  of  his 
department,  General  Halleck  issued  an  order  excluding  fugitive  slaves 
from  the  lines  of  his  army,  under  pretense  that  those  who  thus  sought 
liberty,  were  in  the  habit  of  giving  their  rebel  masters  information  of  his 
military  movements.  This  excuse  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  friends  of 
liberty,  and  this  order  NUMBER  THREE  of  General  Halleck  became  some 
what  notorious,  and  seemed  greatly  to  impair  the  confidence  which  loyal 
men  had  reposed  in  him. 

During  the  summer  of  1861,  most  of  our  commanding  officers  occa 
sionally  employed  their  soldiers  in  sending  back  fugitive  slaves  to  be  sub 
sequently  used  by  their  masters  in  raising  provisions  for  the  support  of 
the  rebel  army,  or  of  rebel  masters  and  their  families.  They  also  em 
ployed  the  soldiers  in  protecting  the  property  of  rebels.  The  wives  of 
officers  serving  in  the  Confederate  army  were  in  the  practice  of  boldly 
demanding  of  Federal  commanders  a  guard  to  protect  them  and  their 
property  while  the  Federal  army  was  encamped  in  the  vicinity  of  their 
residences  ;  but  General  Hunter,  commanding  the  military  district  of 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Florida,  issued  a  general  order,  declar 
ing  all  slaves  within  those  States  to  be  free.  This  order  was  said  to 
have  created  great  alarm  among  the  secessionists,  who  hastily  fled  from 
that  region  ;  and  it  was  believed  if  General  Hunter  had  been  permit 
ted  to  follow  up  his  order  by  enlisting  negroes,  he  would  have  sup 
pressed  the  rebellion  in  his  district  without  calling  another  white  sol 
dier  to  his  assistance  ;  but  this  order  was  also  set  aside  by  higher 
authority,  because  it  was  offensive  to  slaveholders  and  those  who  sus 
tained  the  institution.  It  was  hoped  that  this  undignified  respect  for  the 
prejudices  and  the  long-cherished  crimes  of  pro-slavery  men,  would  attach 
them  to  the  standard  of  liberty  ;  and  it  is  believed  that  while  the  Pre 
sident  refused  to  permit  our  military  officers  to  strike  the  death-blow  to 
the  institution,  many  joined  the  ranks  of  freedom,  while  a  far  greater 
number  were  led  to  believe  that  he  wanted  the  firmness  to  give  the  fatal 
stroke  which  would  lustrate  the  nation  from  the  contagion  of  oppression. 


472  PROPOSITIONS   TO    ABOLISH    SLAVERY. 

The  Executive  embraced  an  early  opportunity  of  uniting  with  Great 
Britain  in  a  solemn  treaty  for  suppressing  the  African  slave  trade. 

The  treaty  recognized  the  principles  so  long  contended  for  by  the 
British  ministry  and  the  American  reformers  :  but  the  democratic  party 
had  been  vociferous  in  opposing  every  proposition  having  in  view  a  com 
bined  effort  of  independent  nations  for  the  destruction  of  that  scourge 
of  the  human  race. 

That  influence  having  ceased  to  control  the  Government,  measures 
were  soon  adopted  for  placing  the  United  States  in  an  attitude  towa.rds 
the  slave  trade  which  became  a  Christian  nation. 

1861 ,  The  thirty-seventh  Congress  convened  on  the  2d  December  for 
its  first  regular  session.  The  vacation  had  given  members  an 
opportunity  of  witnessing  the  operations  of  the  rebels,  and  of  meditating 
upon  the  most  efficient  means  for  suppressing  the  widely-extended  insur 
rection  which  lay  before  them.  European  statesmen  were  charging  the 
attempted  revolution  to  the  democratic  character  of  our  institutions  : 
But  every  impartial  observer  saw  most  clearly  that  it  was  the  despotism 
of  slavery  which  now  involved  our  people  in  all  the  horrors  of  civil  war. 
Men  of  experience  understood  that  the  only  mode  of  restoring  peace  was 
to  resume  and  carry  out  those  republican  and  democratic  doctrines 
which  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  so  many  members  of  Congress,  had 
recently  advised  the  people  to  abandon. 

At  the  solicitation  of  the  slave  power,  Congress,  in  1793,  had  assumed 
undelegated  authority  over  slavery,  in  order  to  uphold  and  sustain  it : 
and  now,  after  sixty-eight  years  of  experience,  the  law  of  self-preserva 
tion  compelled  that  body  to  exert  its  powers  for  the  destruction  of  the 
institution  which  it  had  so  long  cherished. 

On  the  first  day  of  this  session,  Mr.  Eliot,  of  Massachusetts,  offered 
a  resolution  declaring  the  right  of  the  President,  and  of  all  military  offi 
cers  commanding  departments  or  districts,  to  emancipate  all  slaves 
within  their  several  jurisdictions. 

Mr.  Campbell,  of  Pennsylvania,  presented  a  proposition  for  confiscat 
ing  all  slaves  of  rebels  :  and  Mr.  Stevens,  of  the  same  State,  presented 
a  joint  resolution,  requesting  the  President  to  emancipate  by  proclama 
tion  the  slaves  of  all  rebels,  and  to  direct  all  military  officers  to  carry 
out  such  proclamation  within  their  several  jurisdictions. 

All  these  propositions  were  more  radical  than  those  brought  forward 
by  Mr.  Adams  or  by  the  writer,  or  by  their  associates  in  tlie  earlier 
days  of  the  reformation.  They  merely  proposed  to  separate  the  Fede 
ral  Government  and  the  people  of  the  free  States  from  all  support  of 


VARIOUS   PROPOSITIONS   OFFERED.  473 

slavery, 'leaving  the  institution  entirely  with  the  States  in  which  it 
existed  :  But  the  propositions  now  made  had  in  view  the  destruction 
of  that  relation  which  existed  between  master  and  slave,  wherever  the 
master  was  engaged  in  efforts  to  overthrow  the  Government  which 
had  protected  him.  This  destruction  of  slavery  had  been  rendered 
necessary  by  the  rebellion. 

Mr.  Bingham,  of  Ohio,  now  among  the  most  experienced  and  ablest 
members  of  the  House,  gave  notice  of  his  intention  to  offer  a  bill 
emancipating  the  slaves  of  all  rebel  masters,  and  confiscating  their  pro 
perty. 

There  is  a  pride  of  opinion  among  men  in  public  and  in  private  life, 
which  renders  them  generally  unwilling  to  admit  having  cherished  politi 
cal  or  moral  errors  :  Thus  many  who  had  long  advocated  the  support 
of  slavery  by  Congress,  now,  from  mere  pride  of  opinion,  opposed  the 
exercise  of  legislative  powers  for  its  destruction.  They  also  insisted  that 
in  dealing  with  the  rebels,  Government  was  bound  to  act  entirely  within 
the  Constitution,  and  guarantee  to  the  armed  foes  of  the  nation  the 
same  security  which  was  extended  to  its  most  devoted  supporters  :  They 
contended  that  neither  the  President  nor  Congress  possessed  any  right 
to  abolish  slavery,  even  to  save  the  nation's  life  :  And  although  driven 
by  argument  to  admit  that  rebels  may  be  shot,  or  hanged,  with  perfect 
propriety,  they  denied,  with  unyielding  pertinacity,  that  their-  slaves  could 
be  emancipated  by  the  just  exercise  of  governmental  power. 

In  the  Senate,  Mr.  Trumbull,  of  Illinois,  gave  notice  of  his  in- 
tention  to  introduce  a  bill  to  emancipate  the  slaves  of  rebels  and 
to  confiscate  their  property.  These  several  propositions  called  forth 
much  debate,  and  constituted  the  principal  subjects  of  discussion  during 
the  session.  Those  persons  who  held  slaves  were,  in  fact,  as  friendly  to 
free  governments  now  as  they  had  been  in  former  times.  They  had  not 
changed  their  views.  They  had  ever  sought  the  overthrow  of  those 
doctrines  which  recognize  the  equal  rights  of  all  men  to  life  and  liberty. 
Indeed,  Congress  and  the  Executive  had  long  practically  denied  the  ex 
istence  of  these  rights,  and  had  legislated  for  depriving  fugitive  slaves, 
and  slaves  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  on  the  high  seas,  of  those 
prerogatives  which  the  Creator  had  vouchsafed  to  them  :  and  when 
northern  statesmen  changed  their  views  and  determined  no  longer 
to  violate  those  rights,  southern  men  seized  the  sword,  in  order  to  main 
tain  and  continue  the  crimes  which  the  people  of  the  free  States  refused 
longer  to  encourage. 

On  the  third  day  of  the  session,  Senator  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts, 
offered  a  joint  resolution,  instructing  the  marshal  of  the  District  of 


474:  CITY   MARSHAL   AIDS   THE    EEBELLION. 

Columbia  to  discharge  all  persons  confined  in  the  common  jail  of  the 
District,  against  whom  no  charge  of  crime  or  misdemeanor  had  been  pre 
ferred  :  and  the  Senator  showed  from  official  documents  that  some  sixty 
persons  were  then  held  in  prison  by  the  marshal,  upon  "  suspicion  of 
being  fugitive  slaves."  Many  of  these  were  freemen,  born  in  the  northern 
States,  but  had  engaged  in  our  military  service  as  teamsters,  officers' 
servants  and  nurses  for  the  sick.  Of  course  they  were  attached  to  the 
troops,  and  under  the  military  protection  of  the  United  States  ;  but 
they  were  seized  without  ceremony  by  the  minions  of  slavery  as  soon  as 
they  reached  the  nation's  capital,  and  thrown  into  prison,  where  they 
were  detained  until  the  marshal's  fees  for  arrest  and  imprisonment  were 
paid,  thus  aiding  the  rebellion  by  taking  efficient  men  from  the  service 
of  our  army. 

Others  had  fled  from  Virginia,  seeking  an  asylum  from  bondage 
within  our  nation's  capital.  These  were  seized  and  held  until  an  oppor 
tunity  presented  for  sending  them  back  to  the  service  of  their  rebel 
masters,  where  they  were  employed  in  furnishing  provisions  for  the  rebels 
or  in  laboring  upon  rebel  fortifications,  batteries,  rifle-pits,  &c.  Others 
were  committed  by  rebel  masters  to  the  jail  for  safe  keeping  until  a  sale 
could  be  made  ;  and  when  the  slaves  were  thus  committed,  the  masters 
usually  left  for  the  rebel  army,  and  contributed  their  influence  and 
efforts  to  overthrow  the  Government,  whose  marshal  had  their  negroes  in 
safe  keeping. 

1861  -j         Members  of  the  Senate  exposed  these  facts,  and  called  on  the 
marshal  to  state  by  what  authority  he  thus  outraged  the  Consti.-' 
tution  and  the  common  dictates  of  humanity. 

On  the  same  day,  Mr.  Hutchins,  of  Ohio,  moved  a  similar  resolution 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the  attention  of  that  body  was 
called  to  the  subject.  The  marshal  was  unable  to  refer  to  any  law  for 
his  proceeding  ;  but  asserted  that  the  practice  had  long  existed  :  Indeed, 
the  reader  will  recollect  that  the  practice  had  been  eloquently  exposed 
in  1816  by  Hon.  John  Randolph,  of  Yirginia,  and  more  recently  by 
different  members  of  Congress. 

But  the  marshal,  instead  of  abandoning  this  moral  piracy,  gave 
orders  to  the  jailer  to  admit  no  persons  to  the  jail,  unless  they  should 
present  a  written  permit  from  himself,  thus  excluding  Senators  and 
members  of  the  House  from  inspecting  the  public  prison  :  and  such  was 
the  state  of  feeling  in  Washington  City  in  favor  of  the  marshal  and  of 
his  piratical  course,  that  the  President  appeared  unwilling  to  remove 
him  either  for  his  treason  or  his  insolence. 

But  this  conduct  of  the  marshal  exhibited  the  barbarism  of  the 


SLAVERY   ABOLISHED   IN   THE   DISTRICT   OF   COLUMBIA.     ,   475 

metropolis,  and  aroused  a  very  general  indignation  among  all  members 
of  Congress  who  really  desired  to  suppress  the  rebellion,  and  bills  were 
introduced  into  both  Houses  providing  for  the  entire  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  These  bills  were  debated,  and 
their  passage  opposed,  and  resisted  by  adhering  Democrats  and  by 
some  professed  Republicans  ;  but  the  final  passage  of  the  bill  through 
the  House  of  Representatives  was  effected  on  the  llth  April,  when  each 
member  recorded  his  vote  according  to  his  judgment,  and  as  he  wished 
to  be  judged  by  posterity.  Messrs.  Walton,  Fessenden,  Morrill,  Rice,  and 
Pike,  of  Maine  ;  Rollins  and  Edwards,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  Walton, 
Morrill,  and  Baxter,  of  Vermont ;  Eliot,  Buffinton,  Thomas,  Rice,  Alley, 
Gooch,  Train,  Delano,  and  Bailey,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Loomis,  of  Con 
necticut,  voted  for  the  bill ;  but  Messrs.  English  and  Woodruff,  of  the 
latter  State,  voted  against  it.  From  New  York,  Messrs.  F.  A.  Concklin, 
R.  Concklin,  Van  Wyck,  Baker,  Olin,  McKean,  Wheeler,  Sherman, 
Franchot,  Duell,  Lansing,  Clark,  Sedgwick,  Pomeroy,  Chamberlain, 
Diven,  VanVolkenburg,  Ely,  Frank,  Van  Horn,  Spaulding,  and  Fenton 
voted  for  the  bill  ;  while  Messrs.  Smith,  Odell,  Wood,  Ward,  Haight, 
and  Steele  voted  against  it.  From  Pennsylvania,  Messrs.  Verree, 
Kelley,  Davis,  Killinger,  Hickman,  Stevens,  Campbell,  Hale,  McPherson, 
Blair,  Covode,  Morehead,  Wallace,  Pattou,  and  Babbitt  voted  for  the 
bill,  and  Messrs.  Wright,  Johnson,  Bailey,  and  Lazear  opposed  its 
passage.  From  Ohio,  Messrs.  Gurley,  Ashley,  Shellabarger,  Trimble, 
Worcester,  Blakey  Egerton,  Bingham,  Hutching,  and  Riddle  sustained 
it,  and  Messrs.  Pendleton,  Vallandigharn,  Allen,  White,  Noble,  Morris, 
and  Nugen  voted  against  it.  From  Indiana,  Messrs.  Dunn,  Julian, 
Porter,  White,  Colfax,  Mitchell,  and  Shanks  voted  for  the  bill,  and 
Messrs.  Law  and  Holman  voted  against  it.  From  Illinois,  Messrs. 
Washburne,  Arnold,  and  Lovejoy  sustained  the  bill,  as  did  also  Messrs. 
Aldrich  and  Windom,  of  Minnesota.  Potter  and  Sloan,  of  Wisconsin, 
Granger,  Beaman,  Trowbridge,  and  Kellogg,  of  Michigan,  and  Blair 
and  Rollins,  of  Missouri,  voted  for  the  bill  ;  while  Messrs.  Steele,  of 
New  Jersey,  Thomas,  of  Maryland,  Crittenden,  Grider,  Harding, 
Wickliffe,  Dunlap,  Menzies,  and  Mallory,  of  Kentucky,  voted  against  it. 
It  passed  by  a  vote  of  93  to  38.  The  Senate  concurred  by  a  propor 
tionate  majority.  The  bill  was  approved  by  the  President,  and  it 
became  a  law.  The  institution  had  been  established  in  the  District 
in  1801,  and  the  struggle  for  its  abolition  commenced  in  1805.  The 
contest  had  continued  for  fifty-six  years.  During  that  period  slavery 
and  the  slave  trade  had  been  sustained  in  our  national  metropolis  by  the 
influence  and  votes  of  northern  as  well  as  southern  Senators  and  Repre- 


476  BARBAROUS   CONDUCT   OF   MILITARY   OFFICERS. 

sentatives  :  And  should  the  record  of  crimes  perpetrated  ID  that  District 
under  the  sanction  of  Congress  ever  be  made  up  and  exposed  to  public 
examination,  it  must  reflect  discredit  upon  all  the  States. 
1862,  The  old  men  of  the  nation  who  had  labored  long  and  steadily 
to  redeem  our  Government  from  the  accursed  traffic  in  the 
bodies  of  men  and  women,  now  rejoiced,  thanked  God,  and  took  cou 
rage.  The  devotees  of  despotism  in  the  city  of  Washington  no  longer 
controlled  the  action  of  Congress.  The  advocates  of  liberty,  gathering 
courage  from1  success,  no  longer  waited  to  be  assailed  by  the  minions 
of  slavery  ;  they  assumed  the  offensive,  and  without  scruple  exposed  the 
conduct  of  our  military  officers  who  aided  the  rebels  by  capturing  and 
sending  back  fugitive  slaves  to  aid  in  carrying  forward  the  rebellion  in 
which  most  of  the  slave  States  had  engaged. 

Early  in  the  session  Mr.  Sumner  called  attention  to  the  order  of 
General  Halleck  prohibiting  fugitive  slaves  from  entering  the  lines  of 
the  army  under  his  command.  He  exposed  the  pretence  of  that  officer 
in  representing  those  men  and  women  who  had  fled  from  bondage  as 
informing  their  traitorous  masters  in  regard  to  the  movements  and  inten 
tions  of  those  who  afforded  them  an  asylum. 

On  the  same  day  a  similar  investigation  was  going  on  in  the  House 
of  Representatives.  Mr.  Lovejoy,  of  Illinois,  proposed  a  resolution 
requesting  the  President  to  direct  General  Halleck  to  withdraw  his 
general  order  number  three. 

In  debating  this  resolution,  Mr.  Stevens,  of  Pennsylvania,  a  man  of  a 
high  order  of  talents,  of  great  experience  and  influence,  declared  his 
belief  that  General  Halleck  had  issued  his  order  "  number  three,"  now 
become  notorious,  more  for  the  purpose  of  affecting  the  character  of 
General  Fremont  than  from  any  feelings  of  barbarism.  He  declared 
the  practice  of  seizing  and  returning  slaves  had  risen  from  the  proclama 
tion  of  General  McClellan,  in  Western  Virginia  ;  said  that  the  example 
thus  set  had  been  followed  by  General  Dix  and  other  commanding 
officers  of  districts.  He  also  described  a  case  in  Western  Yirginia, 
where  two  wounded  soldiers,  having  hidden  in  the  woods  after  a  battle, 
were  discovered  by  two  fugitive  slaves,  who  kindly  supplied  them  with 
food  and  water,  and  nursed  them  until  able  to  travel  wi.th  assistance, 
when  they  conducted  them  to  the  nearest  American  camp.  But  Gene 
ral  Tyler,  learning  these  facts,  ordered  the  negroes  arrested  and  sent 
back  to  their  rebel  masters.  Indeed,  if  the  published  accounts  of  that 
day  are  to  be  credited,  military  officers  sent  back  fugitive  slaves  to  in 
human  rebel  masters,  who,  in  frequent  instances,  scourged  the  returned 
fugitive  until  death  brought  relief  to  the  victims  of  their  fiendish  rage  ; 


TKEA6ON  STACKS  UNREBUKED.  477 

and  hundreds  were  said  to  have  been  shot  down  by  their  masters 
for  no  other  cause  than  the  tardiness  of  their  flight  from  Federal 
troops. 

Various  resolutions  and  bills  were  presented  both  in  the  Senate 
and  in  the  House  of  Representatives  relative  to  this  undisguised 
support  given  the  rebellion  by  officers  and  troops  in  Federal  employ 
ment.  The  aid  and  comfort  given  the  enemy  would,  in  any  impar 
tial  tribunal,  have  subjected  every  military  officer  thus  employed  to  the 
punishment  allotted  to  traitors  :  Yet  the  President  felt  constrained  to 
await  the  tardy  movements  of  the  public  mind.  The  discussions  arising 
upon  the  various  propositions  were  protracted.  The  officers  who  thus 
violated  both  law  and  humanity  had,  most  of  them,  belonged  to  the 
democratic  party,  and  were  carrying  out  in  practice  the  views  and 
theory  of  that  organization  ;  and  they  looked  upon  it  as  a  matter  of 
partisan  policy  rather  than  of  treason  to  the  Government.  Under  these 
circumstances  the  President  and  Cabinet  appeared  to  feel  it  necessary  to 
await  the  logic  of  events,  to  show  these  officers  their  error  rather  than 
attempt  to  convince  them  by  striking  their  names  from  the  rolls  of  the 
army. 

But  their  conduct  had  so  far  disgraced  the  army,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  that  Congress  passed  a  law  directing  the  dismissal  in  disgrace 
of  every  officer  who  should  longer  indulge  in  that  barbarous  prac 
tice. 

The  President  readily  approved  the  bill.  The  law  was  promulgated, 
and  those  who  continued  to  offend  against  its  provisions  were  dismissed 
in  disgrace  from  the  public  service. 

The  various  bills  and  resolutions  touching  slavery  and  its  connection 
with  the  Federal  Government  were  debated,  referred  to  appropriate 
committees,  reports  were  made  upon  them,  and  they  were  again  dis 
cussed.  Members  of  Congress  were  now  constrained  to  look  at  facts 
and  to  examine  principles.  They  could  no  longer  refuse  serious  investi 
gation.  They  saw  clearly  that  by.  consenting  to  legislate  for  the  benefit 
of  slavery  the  Government  had  departed  from  the  purposes  for  which  it 
was  founded.  That  every  step  in  favor  of  upholding,  extending,  and 
strengthening  that  institution  had  restricted  the  liberty,  not  merely  of 
the  blacks,  but  of  our  white  citizens,  and  hastened  the  rebellion  which 
now  threatened  the  nation's  life. 

The  leaders  of  the  rebellion  officially  announced  to  the  world  that 
the  intended  revolution  had  for  its  object  the  establishment  of  a 
government  to  be  based  on  human  bondage.  This  intention  to  re 
verse  the  onward  march  of  civilization  and  return  to  the  barbarism  of 


478  EMANCIPATION   BILL. 

slavery,  had  been  proclaimed  with  all  that  apparent  confidence  which 
characterized  our  separation  from  Great  Britain,  in  order  to  establish  a 
government  based  upon  that  revealed  will  of  the  Creator,  which  gives 
to  every  human  soul  a  right  to  live,  to  attain  knowledge,  happiness,  and 
heaven. 

1862  ]  Under  the  circumstances,  philanthropists  and  Christians  in  all 
,  lands  felt  that  our  duty  bade  us  plunge  the  dagger  of  justice 

through  the  very  heart  of  slavery  ;  to  strike  down  an  institution  which 
had  waged  war  upon  Christianity,  and  raised  its  puny  arm  against  the 
clearly  revealed  will  of  the  Creator.  To  destroy  slavery  it  was  only 
necessary  to  carry  out  the  doctrines,  and  maintain  the  principles  on 
which  our  Government  had  been  founded,  by  giving  liberty  to  all  per 
sons  under  the  legitimate  jurisdiction  of  Congress  and  the  Executive. 
In  short,  it  had  become  obvious  that  we,  as  a  nation,  must  do  justice  to 
the  slaves  of  the  South  in  order  to  maintain  the  liberties  of  our  own 
people,  and  after  months  spent  in  debate  and  examination  the  various 
propositions  before  Congress  on  this  subject  were  consolidated  into  one 
bill,  providing  :  1st.  For  the  emancipation  of  all  slaves  of  persons  con 
victed  of  treason.  2d.  For  the  emancipation  of  all  who  were  held  by 
persons  engaged  in  the  rebellion.  3d.  For  the  emancipation  of  all  who 
were  held  bj  persons  who  aided  or  in  any  way  assisted  those  engaged  in 
the  rebellion.  4th.  That  no  slave  should  be  returned  to  any  master 
until  the  loyalty  of  the  master  be  proven.  5th.  The  bill  authorized 
the  President  to  employ  any  number  of  Africans  which  he  might  regard 
as  necessary  in  the  service  of  the  United  States. 

1S62 ,  All  history  had  taught  that  slavery  could  only  live  and  thrive 
when  and  where  silence  in  regard  to  liberty,  truth  and  justice 
was  imposed  upon  the  people  ;  yet  many  did  not  appear  to  comprehend 
the  consequences  of  the  contemplated  law.  In  terms,  it  proposed  to 
give  freedom  only  to  the  slaves  of  disloyal  citizens  ;  but  statesmen  could 
not  fail  to  comprehend  that  the  enactment  of  this  bill  would  be  followed 
by  a  total  demoralization  and  final  .disappearance  of  the  institution  ; 
indeed,  it  was  at  this  time  constantly  asserted  that  the  cannonade  of 
Fort  Sumter  had,  in  its  effects  and  legitimate  consequences,  rang  out 
the  death-knell  of  the  institution. 

This  bill  was  also  calculated  to  draw  the  line  of  demarkation  between 
the  friends  of  government  and  the  advocates  of  slavery.  It  had  become 
obvious  to  the  public  mind  that  no  supporter  of  oppression  could  be  a 
friend  of  free  governments.  Surrounded  with  considerations  thus  im 
portant,  on  the  11  th  July  the  House  of  Representatives  proceeded  to  vote 
on  this  bill,  than  which  uo  act  of  Congress  was  ever  more  important. 


VOTE   ON   EMANCIPATION.  479 

Those  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  who  on  that  historic 
occasion  recorded  their  names  for  and  against  this  curse  of  our  country 
were  as  follows  :  Mr.  Loomis,  of  Connecticut,  voted  for  the  bill  ;  and 
Messrs.  English,  Burnham,  and  Woodruff,  of  that  State,  failed  to  vote. 
Messrs.  Phelps  and  Sargeant,  of  California,  Mr.  Fisher,  of  Delaware, 
and  Messrs.  Dunn,  Julian,  Porter,  White,  Colfax,  Mitchel,  and  Shanks, 
of  Indiana,  voted  for  it ;  while  Messrs.  Law  and  Holnian,  of  the  latter 
State,  voted  against  it ;  and  Messrs.  Cravens  and  Voorhees  refrained 
from  voting.  Messrs.  Arnold,  Kellogg,  Lovejoy,  and  Washburne,  of 
Illinois,  sustained  the  bill ;  and  Messrs.  Knapp  and  Fouke,  of  that 
State,  opposed  it ;  while  Messrs.  Richardson  and  Robinson  did  not 
vote.  Messrs.  Wilson  and  Yandever,  of  Iowa,  and  Conway,  of  Kan 
sas,  refused  to  vote.  Messrs.  Crittenden,  Grider,  Harding,  Dunlap, 
Mallory,  and  Menzies,  of  Kentucky,  voted  against  the  bill ;  and  Messrs. 
Jackson,  Powell,  and  Wadsworth  did  not  vote.  Messrs.  Goodwin, 
Walton,  Fessenden,  Merrill,  Rice,  and  Pike,  of  Maine  ;  Eliot,  Buffin- 
ton,  Rice,  Hooper,  Alley,  Gooch,  Bailey,  and  Dawes,  of  Massachusetts, 
voted  for  the  bill ;  and  Mr.  Thomas,  of  the  last  mentioned  State, 
voted  against  it  ;  while  Mr.  Train  did  not  vote.  Messrs.  Crisfield, 
Thomas,  and  Webster,  of  Maryland,  voted  against  the  bill ;  while 
Messrs.  Leary,  Calvert,  and  May  refrained  from  voting.  Messrs.  Bea- 
man,  Kellogg,  and  Trowbridge,  of  Michigan  ;  Aldrich  and  Windom,  of 
Minnesota  ;  Rollins  and  Edwards>  of  New  Hampshire,  supported  the 
bill ;  and  Mr.  Marston,  of  the  latter  State,  did  not  vote.  Mr.  Rollins, 
of  Missouri,  opposed  the  bill  ;  and  Messrs.  Blair,  Norton,  Phelps,  and 
Noel,  of  that  State,  did  not  vote.  Messrs.  Nixon  and  Stratton,  of  New 
Jersey,  voted  for  the  bill ;  Mr.  Cobb,  of  that  State,  voted  against  it ; 
and  Messrs.  Steele  and  Perry  expressed  no  opinion.  Messrs.  Wall,  F. 
A.  Concklm,  Roscoe  Concklin,  Ely,  Sedgwick,  Wheeler,  Sherman, 
Duell,  Lansing,  Frank,  Yan  Horn,  and  Fenton,  of  New  York,  recorded 
their  votes  in  favor  of  the  bill ;  and  Messrs.  Odell,  Wood,  Kerrigan, 
Ward,  and  Haight  voted  against  it ;  while  Messrs.  Delaplaine,  Yan 
Wyck,  Steeie,  Baker,  Olin,  Corning,  McKean,  Wheeler,  Yibbard, 
Franchot,  Clark,  Pomeroy,  Chamberlain,  Diven,  and  Yan  Yolken- 
burg  did  not  record  their  names  on  either  side  of  the  question. 
From  Ohio,  Messrs.  Ashley,  Bingham,  Blake,  Cutler,  Gurley,  Hut- 
chins,  Riddle,  Shellabarger,  and  Worcester  voted  for  the  bill ;  and 
Messrs.  Pendleton,  Yallandigham,  Allen,  Cox,  Nugen,  and  Morris 
voted  against  it ;  while  Messrs.  White,  Harrison,  Noble,  Horton,  and 
Edgerton  did  not  vote.  Mr.  Shiel,  of  Oregon,  voted  against  the 
bill.  From  Pennsylvania,  Messrs.  Kelley,  Davis,  Stevens,  Campbell, 


480         AN  ERA  IN  THE  PROGRESS  OF  FREEDOM. 

Hale,  McPherson,  Blair,  Covode,  McKnight,  Patton,  ^Babbitt,  More- 
head,  and  Wallace  voted  for  the  bill ;  while  Messrs.  Lehman,  Biddle, 
Ancona,  and  Lazear  voted  -against  it  ;  and  Messrs.  Vance,  Hickman, 
Cooper,  Wright,  Johnson,  and  Morehead  did  not  vote.  Mr.  Brown, 
of  Rhode  Island,  voted  against  the  bill ;  and  his  colleague,  Mr.  Sheffield, 
did  not  vote.  Messrs.  Maynard,  of  Tennessee,  Baxter  and  Merrill,  of 
Yermont,  voted  for  the  bill ;  and  Mr.  Walton  was  detained  at  his  resi 
dence  by  ill  health.  Messrs.  Upton,  Brown,  and  Whaley,  of  Yirginia, 
did  not  vote  ;  while  Mr.  Blair  voted  in  the  affirmative.  Mr.  Potter,  of 
Wisconsin,  voted  for  the  bill,  while  Messrs.  Sloan  and  Hanchett  did 
not  vote. 

The  bill  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  by  a  vote  of  82  in  the 
affirmative  to  42  in  the  negative. 

On  the  following  day  it  passed  the  Senate,  Mr.  Foster,  of  Connecticut, 
voting  for  it,  and  Mr.  Dixon  not  voting.  Mr.  McDougal,  of  California, 
voted  against  it ;  and  Mr.  Latham,  of  that  State,  failed  to  vote.  Messrs. 
Bayard  and  Saulsbury,  of  Delaware,  recorded  their  names  in  opposition 
to  the  bill.  Mr.  Bright,  of  Indiana,  had  been  expelled  ;  and  Mr.  Lane, 
of  that  State,  voted  in  favor  of  the  bill.  Mr.  Trumbull,  of  Illinois,  sus 
tained  the  bill ;  and  his  colleague,  Mr.  Browning,  opposed  it.  Messrs. 
Grimes  and  Harlan,  of  Iowa  ;  Lane  and  Pomeroy,  of  Kansas  ;  Morrill 
and  Fessenden,  of  Maine  ;  Sumner  and  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts ; 
and  Chandler,  of  Michigan,  voted  for  the  bill.  Mr.  Powell,  of  Ken 
tucky,  and  Kennedy,  of  Maryland,  voted  against  it ;  while  Mr.  Pearce, 
of  the  latter  State,  did  not  vote.  Messrs.  Polk  and  Johnson,  of  Mis 
souri,  did  not  vote.  Messrs.  Clark  and  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire  ; 
.  Harris  and  King,  of  New  York  ;  Wade  and  Sherman,  of  Ohio  ;  Foote 
and  Collamer,  of  Yermont ;  Simmons  and  Anthony,  of  Rhode  Island  ; 
and  Wilmot,  of  Pennsylvania,  voted  in  the  affirmative ;  and  Mr.  Cowen, 
of  the  latter  State,  voted  against  it.  Mr.  Nesmith,  of  Oregon  ;  Johnson, 
of  Tennessee  ;  and  Carlisle,  of  Yirginia,  did  not  vote.  Mr.  Doolittle, 
of  Wisconsin,  voted  for  the  bill,  and  Mr.  Howe,  of  that  State,  did  not 
vote.  The  bill  passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  21  to  12.  The  President 
approved  it,  and  it  became  a  law. 

The  passage  of  this  bill  marks  an  important  era  in  the  legislative  his 
tory  of  the  country.  Although  in  terms  it  did  not  abolish  the  coast 
wise  slave  trade,  nor  the  fugitive  slave  law,  yet  its  passage  demonstrated 
such  progress  of  public  sentiment  as  to  indicate  that  Congress  would 
soon  entirely  lustrate  the  free  States  and  the  Federal  Government  from 
all  support  of  slavery.  Indeed,  they  had  already  waged  a  war  against 
the  very  existence  of  the  institution  in  consequence  of  the  rebellion. 


THE  WAR  POWER  OF  GOVERNMENT  EXERCISED.  481 

The  supporters  of  oppression  became  irritable,  advancing  arguments 
in  opposition  to  the  progress  of  freedom  which  were  not  only  absurd, 
but  ludicrous.  Politicians  of  the  present  and  future  time  will  do  well 
to  study  the  debates  on  this  and  the  bill  establishing  freedom  to  all 
persons  within  the  Territories  of  the  United  States. 

The  last  mentioned  bill  was  originally  introduced  to  the  House  of 
Representatives  by  Mr.  Arnold,  of  Illinois,  and  when  reported  by  the 
appropriate  committee,  it  not  only  proclaimed  •  freedom  to  all  persons 
within  the  Territories  belonging  to  the  United  States,  or  which  should 
thereafter  be  purchased  by  them,  but  also  to  persons  on  board  American 
vessels  sailing  upon  the  "  high  seas  ;"  thus  striking  a  fatal  blow  at  the 
coastwise  slave  trade,  which  had  been  sustained  and  cherished  by  Con 
gress  since  the  year  1808. 

Members  who  adhered  to  the  democratic  party  now  gave  unmistak 
able  evidence  of  the  desperation  to  which  they  were  driven.  With 
the  frenzied  grasp  of  drowning  men  in  shipwreck,  who  seize  upon  the 
anchor  in  brder  to  float  ashore,  these  men  seized  upon  oppression,  and 
with  it  sunk  beneath  the  waters  of  political  forgetfulness  and  were 
seen  no  more.  The  passage  of  this  bill  was  resisted  by  nearly  the 
same  members  who  opposed  the  one  last  noticed  ;  but  it  was  carried 
through  both  Houses  by  about  the  same  majority  ;  was  also  approved 
by  the  President,  and  became  a  law. 

The  resistance  offered  to  the  passage  of  these  acts  by  men  from  the 
border  States  was  somewhat  remarkable.  Messrs.  Crittenden  and 
Wickliffe,  of  Kentucky,  had  long  been  regarded  'as  among  the  able  men 
of  the  West.  They  had  served  in  public  life  with  Mr.  Clay,  and,  on  im 
portant  constitutional  questions,  were  supposed  to  entertain  the  doctrines 
of  that  distinguished  statesman.  These  gentlemen,  with  the  entire 
democratic  party,  denied  the  constitutional  power  of-  the  Executive  and 
of  Congress  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States  IN  TIMES  OF  REBELLION, 
even  to  save  the  nation.  Mr.  Wickliffe  introduced  resolutions  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  to  that  effect ;  and  the 'supporters  of  slavery, 
with  all  who  adhered  to  the  democratic  party,  now"  acted  with  him. 
Indeed,  some  professed  Republicans  hesitated,  and  appeared  to  be  in 
doubt  on  the  subject.  Few  members  referred  to  those  plain  elementary 
principles  which  teach  us  that,  in  time  of  hostilities,  every  citizen  is  at 
war  with  every  citizen  of  the  belligerent  government,  and  is  bound  to 
contribute  his  property  and  life  to  save  the  government  to  which  he  has 
sworn  allegiance  ;  that  a  state  of  war  necessarily  throws  upon  the 
Executive  of  every  nation  and  of  every  form  of  government  despotic 

31 


482  INEXPERIENCE  OF  OUR  STATESMEN. 

powers,  to  be  exercised  under  control  of  the  executive  judgment,  re 
strained  and  upheld  by  the  intelligence  of  the  people. 
1862 1  ^ue  statesmen  then  ruling  the  nation  had  however  been  born 
and  educated  in  times  of  peace.  They  had  studied  neither  the 
necessities  nor  the  laws  of  war,  and  now  spoke  and  acted  without  that 
examination  and  thought  which  should  ever  characterize  the  conduct  of 
men  in  high  position.  Indeed,  this  subject  had  been  discussed  in  Con 
gress  only  by  Mr.  Adams,  who  was  acknowledged  by  all  to  have  been 
one  of  the  most  learned  and  patriotic,  as  well  as  the  most  experienced 
men  of  the  nation.* 


*  On  the  14th  April,  1842,  Mr.  Adams,  referring  to  the  resolutions  presented  to  the  House  of 
Representatives  by  the  author,  and  for  which  he  was  censured,  remarked : 

"  I  said,  that  as  far  as  I  could  understand  the  resolutions  proposed  by  the  gentleman  from  Ohio 
(Mr.  Giddings),  there  were  some  of  them  for  which  I  was  ready  to  vote,  and  some  which  I  must 
vote  against ;  and  I  will  now  tell  this  House,  my  constituents,  and  the  world  of  mankind,  that  the 
resolution  against  which  I  would  have  voted  was  that  in  which  he  declares  that  what  are  called  the 
slave  States  have  the  exclusive  right  of  consultation  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  For  that  resolution 
I  never  would  vote,  because  I  believe  that  it  is  not  just  and  does  not  contain  constitutional  doc 
trine.  I  believe  that  so  long  as  the  slave  States  are  able  to  sustain  their  institution  without  going 
abroad,  or  calling  upon  other  parts  of  the  Union  to  aid  them  or  to  act  on  the  subject,  so  long  I  will 
consent  never  to  interfere. 

"  But  if  they  come  to  the  free  States  and  say  to  them,  you  must  help  us  to  keep  down  our  slaves, 
you  must  aid  us  in  an  insurrection  and  a  civil  war,  then,  I  say,  that  with  that  call  comes  a  full 
and  plenarj'  power  to  this  House  and  to  the  Senate  over  the  whole  subject.  It  is  a  war  power.  I 
say  it  is  a  war  power  ;  and  when  your  country  is  actually  in  war,  whether  it  be  a  war  of  invasion 
or  a  war  of  insurrection,  Congress  has  power  to  carry  on  the  war,  and  must  carry  it  on  according 
to  the  laws  of  war ;  and  by  the  laws  of  war  an  invaded  country  has  all  its  laws  and  municipal 
institutions  swept  by  the  board,  and  martial  law  takes  the  place  of  them.  This  power  in  Congress 
has  perhaps  never  been  called  into  exercise  under  the  present  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
But  when^the  laws  of  war  are  in  force,  what,  I  ask,  is  one  of  those  laws?  It  is  this  :  that  when  a 
country  is  invaded,  and  two  hostile  armies  are  set  in  martial  array,  the  commanders  of  loth 
armies  have  power  to  emancipate  all  the  slaves  in  the  invaded  territory. 

"  Nor  is  this  a  mere  theoretic  statement.  The  history  of  South  America  shows  that  the  doctrine 
has  been  carried  into  execution  within  the  last  thirty  years.  Slavery  was  abolished  in  Colombia, 
first  by  the  Spanish  General  Morillo,  and  secondly  by  the  American  General  Bolivar.  It  was 
abolished  by  virtue  of  a  military  command  given  at  the  head  of  the  army,  and  its  abolition  con 
tinues  to  be  law  to  this  day.  It  was  abolished  by  the  laws  of  war,  and  not  by  municipal  enact 
ments.  The  power  was  exercised  by  military  commanders,  under  instructions,  of  course,  from 
their  respective  governments.  Congress  is  now  about  passing  a  grant  to  refund  to  General  Jack 
son  the  amount  of  a  certain  fine  imposed  upon  him  by  a  judge  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of 
Louisiana.  You  are  going  to  refund  him  the  money,  with  interest ;  and  this  you  are  going  to  do 
because  the  imposition  of  the  fine  was  unjust.  And  why  unjust?  Because  General  Jackson  was 
acting  under  the  laws  of  war,  and  because  the  moment  you  place  a  military  commander  in  a  dig. 
trict  which  is  the  theatre  of  war,  the  laws  of  war  apply  to  that  district.  I  have  a  correspondence 
between  General  Jackson  and  the  Governor  of  Georgia,  during  the  Seminole  campaign,  in  which 
General  Jackson  asserts  the  principle  that  he,  as  Governor  of  a  State  within  his  (General  Jack 
son's)  military  division,  had  no  right  to  give  a  military  order  while  he  (General  Jackson)  was  in 
the  field.  The  Governor  contested  the  power  of  General  Jackson,  and  said  all  he  could  for  State 
rights ;  but  General  Jackson  had  given  an  order,  and  that  order  was  carried  into  effect,  while  'the 
order  of  the  Governor  was  suppressed.  General  Jackson  had  the  right  of  the  question. 

"  I  might  furnish  a  thousand  proofs  to  show  that  the  pretensions  of  gentlemen  to  the  sanctity  of 
their  municipal  institutions,  under  a  state  of  actual  invasion  and  of  actual  war,  whether  servile, 
civil,  or  foreign,  are  wholly  unfounded  ;  and  that  the  laws  of  war  do,  in  all  such  cases,  take  the 


SLAVERY  THE  STRENGTH  OF  THE  REBELLION.       483 

He  had,  however,  been  unpopular  from  his  inflexible  adherence  to 
the  Constitution.  He,  and  those  who  acted  with  him,  had  spurned  the 
policy  of  Messrs.  Clay,  Webster,  Fillmore,  Calhoun,  Cass,  Yan  Buren, 
and  Polk  ;  and  now  the  ardent  followers  of  those  distinguished  men 
were  slow  to  relinquish  the  policy  in  which  they  had  been  educated,  and 
adopt  the  doctrines  of  men  whom  they  had  ever  regarded  as  misguided 
opponents  of  slavery. 

Mr.  Seward,  the  Secretary  of  State,  had  avowed  his  intention  to 
surrender  republicanism  and  democracy  ;  and  it  was  believed  that  the 
Executive  would  maintain  the  policy  which  had  guided  the  administra 
tions  of  Messrs.  Harrison,  Tyler,  Taylor,  and  Fillmore.  Ohio,  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  New  York  had  already  abandoned  republicanism. 

But  against  all  these  influences,  members  of  Congress  were  ,1862 
now  impelled  by  that  natural  law,  that  will  of  the  Creator, 
which  underlies  all  human  action,  constraining  them  to  carry  out  the 
doctrines  enunciated  by  the  reformers  and  avowed  by  the  Republicans  at 
Philadelphia;  although  they  had  been  so  recently  renounced  by  Senators, 
Representatives,  people  and  States. 

As  the  rebellion  expanded  in  its  proportions,  the  danger  to  which  the 
Government  was  exposed  became  more  apparent.  It  was  perceived 
that  all  support  of  slavery  contributed  to  strengthen  the'  rebellion  ; 
while  the  liberty  of  a  single  slave  subtracted  so  much  from  the  power 
now  seeking  the  overthrow  of  the  Government. 


precedence.  I  lay  this  down  as  the  law  of  nations.  I  say  that  the  military  authority  takes,  for 
the  time,  the  place  of  all  municipal  institutions,  slavery  among  the  rest.  Under  that  state  of 
things,  so  far  from  its  being  true  that  the  States  where  slavery  exists  have  the  exclusive  manage 
ment  of  the  subject,  not  only  the  President  of  the  United  States,  but  the  commander  of  the, 
a>-my,  has  power  to  order  the  universal  emancipation  of  the  slaves. 

"  I  have  given  more  in  detail  a  principle  which  I  have  asserted  on  this  floor  before  now,  and  of 
which  I  have  no  more  doubt  than  that  you,  sir,  occupy  that  chair.  I  give  it  in  its  development, 
in  order  that  any  gentleman,  from  any  part  of  the  Union,  may  deny  the  truth  of  this  position,  if 
he  thinks  proper,  and  may  maintain  his  denial,  not  by  indignation,  not  by  passion  and  fury,  but 
by  sound  and  sober  reasoning  from  the  laws  of  nations  and  the  laws  of  war.  If  my  position  can 
be  answered  and  refuted,  I  shall  receive  the  refutation  with  pleasure.  I  shall  be  glad  to  listen  to 
reason,  aside,  as  I  say,  from  indignation  and  passion.  If  by  the  force  of  reasoning,  my  under 
standing  can  be  convinced,  I  here  pledge  myself  to  recant  what  I  have  asserted. 

"  Let  my  position  be  answered ;  let  me  be  told,  let  my  constituents  be  told,  let  the  people  of  my 
State  be  told  (a  State  whose  soil  tolerates  not  the  foot  of  a  slave),  that  they  are  bound  by  the 
Constitution  to  a  long  and  toilsome  march,  under  burning  summer  suns  and  a  deadly  southern 
clime,  for  the  suppression  of  a  servile  war.  That  they  are  bound  to  leave  their  bodies  to  rot  upon 
the  sands  of  Carolina ;  to  leave  their  wives  widows,  and  their  children  orphans  ;  that  those  who 
cannot  march  are  bound  to  pour  out  then:  treasures,  while  their  sons  and  brothers  are  pouring 
out  then*  blood,  to  suppress  a  servile  war,  combined  with  a  civil  or  foreign  war ;  and  yet  that 
there  exists  no  power  (beyond  the  limits  of  the  slave  State  where  such  war  is  raging)  to  emanci 
pate  the  slaves.  Let  this  be  proved,  I  say.  I  am  open  to  conviction ;  but  till  that  conviction 
comes,  I  put  it  forth,  not  as  a  dictate  of  feeling,  but  as  a  settled  maxim  of  the  laws  of  nations,  -,hat 
in  such  a  case  the  military  power  supersedes  the  civil  power." 


484  HOSTILITY  TO  THE   RAISING  OF  COLOEED   TROOPS. 

It  became  quite  obvious  that  the  colored  people  of  the  nation  must 
soon  be  united  with  the  whites  of  the  free  States,  in  defence  of  those 
rights  which  God  had  bestowed  equally  on  all  races  of  men.  The 
acts  of  Congress  to  which  we  have  just  directed  the  reader's  atten 
tion,  constituted  important  steps  towards  the  consummation  of  this 
purpose* 

Strong  efforts  were  made  to  induce  the  President  to  authorize  the 
raising  of  negro  troops.  It  was  urged  that  in  the  B  evolution  and  in 
the  war  of  1812,  colored  men  had  made  the  best  soldiers  in  the  service. 
It  was  further  urged  that  to  admit  them  to  bear  arms  would  inspire 
them  with  ambition,  and  thus  prepare  them  for  that  liberty  which  it 
was  foreseen  they  would  at  no  distant  day  enjoy.  It  was  urged  that 
.the  service  of  negroes  would  save  the  lives  of  white  men,  particularly  in 
the  southern  portions  of  the  Union,  where  the  negroes  alone  were  pre 
pared  to  meet  the  dangers  of  the  climate.  To  these  propositions  the 
entire  democratic  party  were  hostile.  Officers  serving  in  the  army  pro 
claimed  their  intentions  to  resign  if  negroes  were  admitted  to  bear 
arms.  The  President  refused  to  grant  authority  for  raising  colored 
troops,  evidently  regarding  that  policy  as  somewhat  in  advance  of  the 
popular  mind. 

When  General  Butler  captured  New  Orleans,  he  found  the  white 
population  almost  unanimously  in  favor  of  secession,  while  the  colored 
people  were  all  anxious  for  suppressing  the  rebellion.  He  also  found 
an  existing  law  of  the  State,  authorizing  the  enlistment  of  colored 
troops.  He  immediately  ordered  a  regiment  of  black  men  to  be  enlisted  ; 
*  but  whether  he  then  had  authority  from  the  War  Department  to  employ 
them  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  was  not  understood  by  the 
public.* 

It  was  also  said  that  authority  had  been  given  to  raise  a  regiment  of 
colored  men  at  Hilton  Head,  South  Carolina,  during  the  summer  of 
1862,  but  it  was  not  brought  into  service  until  late  in  the  autumn  of 
that  year. 

The  rebels  appearing  in  force  in  Kentucky,  apparently  intending 
the  capture  of  Cincinnati,  a  brigade  of  colored  men  were  called  to 
act  as  laborers  in  digging  rifle-pits,  erecting  batteries  and  fortifica 
tions.  They  readily  volunteered,  faithfully  performed  the  service,  re 
ceived  the  public  thanks  of  the  commanding  general,  and  retired  to 
their  homes. 


*  One  regiment  of  colored  troops  was  actually  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United  States  early 
to  the  month  of  September. 


THE  PRESIDENT'S  PROCLAMATION  OF  FREEDOM.  485 

Transpiring  events  constrained  the  President  to  action.  On  the  22d 
September  he  issued  his  proclamation,  setting  forth  that  "  all  persons 
held  as  slaves  in  any  State,  or  in  the  designated  part  of  any  State,  which 
should  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States  on  the  first  day  of 
January,  following  the  date  of  said  proclamation,  should  be  thenceforth 
and  FOREVER  FREE,  and  the  Executive  Government,  including  the  military 
and  naval  authorities,  will  recognize  and  MAINTAIN  the  freedom  of  such 
persons." 

This  proclamation  was  read  with  the  most  thrilling  interest  through 
out  all  the  States.  The  advocates  of  liberty  rejoiced  in  the  conviction 
that  our  Government  had  not  only  ceased  to  uphold  slavery,  but  had 
now  pledged  its  influence  and  powers  for  liberty  and  justice,  to  main 
tain  the  primal  truths  for  which  it  was  instituted. 

The  great  and  good  of  other  lands  now  responded  in  deep  sympathy 
for  the  cause  in  which  our  Government  and  the  people  of  the  free  States 
were  contending.  Philanthropists  in  England  and  France,  in  Russia 
and  Austria,  expressed  their  gratitude  to  Him  who  sways  the  destinies 
of  men  and  of  nations  for  having  guided  our  statesmen  to  the  support 
of  those  rights  which  He  has  bestowed  on  men  in  all  ages  and  all 
nations  ;  and  Christianity  uttered  her  invocation  for  our  success. 

Even  before  the  proclamation  was  issued,  colored  men  were  enlisted 
into  the  military  service  in  South  Carolina  and  Louisiana,  and  during 
the  autumn  four  regiments  of  Louisiana  native  guards  were  mustered 
into  the  service  of  the  United  States  at  New  Orleans.* 

The  news  of  the  President's  proclamation  reached  the  slaves  throughout 
the  States.  All  felt  they  were  to  be  free  on  the  1st  January.  None  be 
lieved  they  were  to  be  excepted  ;  while  thousands  in  Missouri,  Kentucky, 
Maryland  and  Delaware,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  New  Orleans,  refused  to 
wait  for  the  new  year  to  announce  their  freedom ;  but  availed  themselves 
of  their  powers  of  locomotion  to  seek  their  own  happiness.  In  those 
States  the  institution  became  demoralized,  and  it  was  obvious  that  the 
emancipation  of  those  in  the  rebel  States  would  constitute  substantially 
an  emancipation  throughout  all  the  States. 

On  the  first  day  of  January,  A.D.  1863,  the  President  issued  his  sup 
plemental  proclamation,  declaring  Eastern  Yirginia,  North  and  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Texas,  and  parts  of 


*  The  writer  having  contended  for  the  humanity  of  the  colored  race  for  more  than  thirty  years, 
had  the  pleasure  to  learn  that  his  youngest  son  mustered  into  service  these  four  regiments  of  Louisi 
ana  guards,  and  subsequently  the  still  further  pleasure  to  learn  that  these  and  other  regiments  of 
colored  men  had  exhibited  unusual  courage  and  gallantry,  more  than  vindicating  all  the  author  had 
said  in  favor  of  the  African  race. 


486*          THE  PEESIDEET'S  SUPPLEMENTAL  PROCLAMATION. 

Tennessee  and  Louisiana,  to  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States, 
and  the  slaves  therein  to  be  thenceforth  and  forever  free :  Their  liberty 
became  thus  identified  with  the  existence  of  the  Government  ;  which 
thenceforth  ceased  to  maintain  slavery :  And  the  rights  of  all  men 
to  live,  to  that  liberty  which  is  necessary  to  support  and  protect  life, 
acquire  knowledge,  enjoy  happiness,  and  prepare  for  heaven,  consti 
tuted  the  prize  for  which  the  existing  war  was  subsequently  maintained. 
The  history  of  that  war,  with  its  incidents  and  results,  must  be  con- 
gigned  to  the  pen  of  some  younger,  some  abler  historian. 


THE   END. 


INDEX. 


Abolition  of  Slavery  under  the  Confederation, 
11;  Two  thousand  Societies,  156. 

in  District  of  Columbia,  35,  41,  96,  97 ; 

One  thousand  Citizens  Petition  for,  93 ;  Un 
constitutional,  103,  104,  267. 

Radical  Abolitionists  entertain  erroneous 

ideas  of  Constitution,  248. 

Abbott,  Amos,  Mass.,  234,  270,  284,  286. 

Abduction  of  freemen,  13. 

Abburtnon,  Nathaniel,  Ind.,  818,  328,  330. 

Adams,  John,  Serves  on  Committee  to  Draft 
Declaration  of  Independence,  10;  Is  a  Com 
missioner  to  Negotiate  Treaty  of  1783. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  Senator  from  Massachu 
setts,  opposes  Bill  to  Suspend  Commercial  Re- 
lations  with  Ilayti,  36. 

as  President,  proposes  to  send  Commis 
sioners  to  Panama  Congress,  80. 

as  Representative,  presents  Petitions  for 

Abolition  of  Slavery  in  District  of  Columbia, 
96,  97;  Inquires  concerning  Petition  from 
Slaves,  107;  Proceedings  thereon,  108-111; 
Calls  attention  to  Challenge  of  Mr.  Stevenson 
to  Mr.  O'Connell,  121;  Explains  his  Views, 
127;  Presents  Resolution  touching  Employ 
ment  of  Bloodhounds,  140  ;  Is  Counsel  for  Am 
is  tad  Slaves,  145;  Asserts  duty  of  Government 
to  interfere  with  Slavery  in  case  of  Insurrec 
tion,  155;  Reiterates  doctrine,  156;  Maintains 
Right  of  Petition,  157 ;  Presents  Petition  for 
Dissolution  of  the  Union,  159 ;  Is  arraigned 
therefor,  162;  Incidents  of  Trial,  162-170;  At 
tempts  to  remove  him  from  Chairmanship  of 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  194;  Argues 
question  of  Property  in  Man,  204 ;  Vote,  209 ; 
Signs  Address,  213  ;  Solemn  Ejaculation,  217  ; 
Reports  on  Memorial  from  Massachusetts,  221 ; 
Obtains  Repeal  of  Gag-rules,  236 ;  Votes  against 
Mexican  War,  250;  Last  Speech,  his  Death, 
230;  His  Memory  Vindicated,  376. 

Address  of  the  Continental  Congress,  11 ;  Of 
twenty  Members  of  Congress  on  the  Annexa 
tion  of  Texas,  213 

Adrain,  Garnet  B.,  New  Jersey,  411,  441. 

Africans  enslaved  in  South  Carolina,  and  Amer 
icans  in  Tripoli,  34,  40. 

Ahl,  John  A.,  Pa.,  411. 

Aldrich,  Cyrus,  Minnesota,  4C9,  475,  479. 

Alabama,  State  of;  Secedes,  457. 

Allen,  Elisha,  Me.,  Votes,  209. 

Ailen,  Charles,  Mass.,  an  Advocate  of  Liberty, 
300;  Votes  for  W.  J.  Brown,  304;  Defends 
Free-soilers,  306;  Votes,  318,  320,  329,  334. 

Allen,  Philip,  Rhode  Island,  418. 

Allen,  William,  Ohio,  443,  468,  469,  475,  479. 

Allison,  John,  Pa.,  360. 

Alley,  John  B.,  Mass.,  468,  469,  475. 

Alexander,  H.  P.,  New  York,  318,  328,  330. 


Amistad  Slave-ship,  History  of,  143-147;  Re 
port  in  favor  of  paying  for,  221 ;  Senate  votes 
for  paying,  258,269,  362-364;  Payment  again 
Recommended  412 ;  It  is  opposed  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  413 ;  Senate  reports  Bill, 
413;  Not  acted  on,  413. 

Amendments  of  the  Constitution  Prohibit  from 
Legislating  for  return  of  Fugitive  Slaves.  13. 

Arnold,  Isaac  N.,  111.,  offers  Bill  Emancipating 
all  Slaves  in  Territories  and  on  board  Ships, 
475,  480. 

Arnold,  Samuel.  Ct.,  479. 

Anthony,  H.  B.,  Senator  from  Rhode  Island, 
480. 

Ancona,  ,  Pa.,  468,  469,  480. 

Andrews  Sherlock  J.,  Ohio,  210;  Signs  Address, 
214;  Votes,  186. 

Andrews,  George,  New  York,  318,  830. 

Andrew,  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  Remon 
strates  with  General  Butler.  464,  465.  * 

Arrogance  of  Slaveholders,  428. 

Arkansas,  Slavery  admitted,  53:  Secedes,  465. 

Ashly,  James  M.,  Ohio,  468,  469.  479. 

Axhburton,  Lord,  Not  authorized  to  Negotiate 
in  regard  to  Shipwrecked  Slaves,  198. 

Ashmun,  George,  Mass.,  Votes,  252,  279,  286. 

Atchison,  D-  R ,  Missouri,  leaves  Washington  to 
establish  Blue-lodges,  372. 

Atherton,  Charles  G.,  New  Hampshire,  Votes. 
118;  Moves  Gag-resolutions,  122;  la  favor  of 
paying  for  Slaves,  206. 

Ayefig,  John  B.,  New  Jersey,  Votes,  186,  209. 

Babcock,  Alfred,  New  York,  186,  209. 

Babbit,  Elijah,  Pa  ,  468,  469,  475,  444. 

Bailey,  Joseph,  Pa.,  468,  469,  475. 

Bailey,  G.  F.,  Mass.,  479. 

Baker,  Stephen,  New  York,  468,  475,  479. 

Baker,  Osmyn.  Mass.,  209. 

Baker,  Edward  D.,  Ill,  306,  318,  330. 

Baker,  David,  New  Hampshire,  90. 

Baldwin,  Roger,  8.,  Ct,  Vindicates  the  Natural 
Rights  of  Mankind,  295,  330. 

Banks,  Nathaniel  P.,  Mass.,  Is  Candidate  for 
Speaker,  384  ;  Declares  his  Views,  3S5  ;  Ad 
heres  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  3S7; 
Elected  Speaker,  389  ;  Reports  Bill  for  Consti 
tutional  Convention  in  Kansas,  406. 

Barbary  States,  Capture  and  Enslave  Ameri 
cans,  34;  Permit  their  Redemption,  35. 

Barr,  Thomas  J.,  New  Jork,  443. 

Barnard,  D.  D.,  New  York,  Publishes  Card,  188, 
209. 

Batchelder,  ,  a  Slave-catcher  of  Boston 

slain,  377;  Movement  for  giving  widow  Pen 
sion,  37S. 

Bayley,  Thomas  J.,  Va.,  Denounces  Advocates 
of  Liberty,  274. 


488 


INDEX. 


BayUy,  Gamaliel,  Threatened  by  Mob,  274; 
Office  Injured,  474. 

Bayard,  James  A.,  Senator  from  Delaware,  480. 

Beaty,  William,  Pa.,  118. 

Beardsley,  Samuel,  Argues  Case  of  a  Fugitive, 
219. 

Beeson,  IT.  W.,  Pa.,  1ST,  210. 

Belcher,  Hiram,  Me.,  2SO,  2S6. 

Benton,  Charles  8.,  New  York,  234. 

Benton,  Thomas  II.,  Missouri,  Denounces  Abo 
litionists,  103;  Inquires  as  to  Bloodhounds, 
136;  Opposes  Treaty  with  Texas,  224;  Intro 
duces  a  Bill  for  same  Object,  226;  Prevents 
withdrawal  of  Army  from  Mexico,  258;  Pre 
sents  Resolutions  of  Missouri,  311;  Is  Assailed 
by  Mr.  Foote,  315 ;  Causes  a  Ludicrous  Scene, 
336. 

Sennet,  Henry,  New  York,  330.  334 

Bidlack.  Benjamin  F.,  Pa,  186,  210. 

Biddle,  Charles  J,  Pa.,  4SO. 

Bingham,  Kingsley  S.,  Mich.,  271,  2ST,  330,  334, 
440. 

Bingham,  John  A.,  Ohio,  Advocates  Expulsion 
of  Brooks,  396 ;  Answers  Interrogatories 
promptly.  431 ;  Presents  Bill  to  Abolish  Slav 
ery  in  our  Territories,  441 ;  Presents  Bill  de 
claring  all  Laws  of  New  Mexico  in  favor  of 
Slavery,  void,  441,  469 ;  Proposes  to  Emanci 
pate  all  Slaves  of  Kebels,  472,  475. 

Birtlsall,  Ausburn,  New  York,  267,  270,  291. 

Birdxey,  Victory,  New  York,  209 ;  Signs  Ad 
dress  on  subject  of  Annexing  Texas,  214. 

Bishop,  W.  D.,  Ct.,  411. 

Bissel,  W.  II.,  111.,  318,  334. 

Black,  Edward  J.,  Georgia,  Assaults  Author, 
238;  Ludicrous  Incident,  239. 

Bl&ck,  James,  Pa.,  234. 

Blackmer,  Esbond.  New  York,  285,  287. 

Blair,  Francis  P.,  Missouri,  468,  469,  475,  479. 

Blair,  S.  S.,  Pa.,  468,  469,  475,  479. 

Blake,  Harrison  G.,  Ohio,  Presents  Eesolution, 
443*  Votes,  463.  475,  479. 

Blessings  of  Liberty,  Should  be  extended  to  all 
persons,  14. 

Bliss,  Philemon,  Ohio,  Opposes  Bill  providing 
payment  for  Slaves,  419. 

Blue-lodges,  Established  in  Missouri,  372. 

Bloodhounds,  Resolutions  concerning,  140;  Em 
ployed  in  Florida  War,  155,  156. 

Boardman,  William  W.,  Ct.,  18G. 

Boon,  Ratliif,  Ind.,  US. 

Booth,  Walter,  Ct,  301,  318,  329,  336. 

Borden,  Nathaniel  B.,  Mass.,  186,  209 ;  Signs  Ad 
dress,  214. 

Botts,  John  M.,  Va.,  183,  187,  210. 

Bowne,  Walter.  New  York,  186,  209. 

Brady,  Jasper  E.,  Pa.,  284,  291. 

Bradbury,  James  W.,  Me.,  332. 

Brainard,  Lawrence,  Senate,  Vt.,  270. 

Breckcnridge,  John  C.,  Ky.,  Assails  Mr.  Cutting, 
369;  Democratic  Candidate  for  President, 
446. 

Brewster,  David  P.,  New  York,  186,  209. 

Bridges,  S.  A.,  Pa.,  287,  291,  295. 

Briggs,  George  N.,  Mass.,  186,  187. 

Brings,  George,  New  York,  318,  328,  330,  333. 

Brinkerhoof.  Jacob.  Ohio,  His  Political  Course 
in  Vote,  236. 

Broad  head,  Richard,  Pa.,  369. 

Brockway,  John  H.,  Ct.,  2S6,  291,  298. 

Broderick,  D.  C.,  California,  Opposes  a  Slave- 
holding  Administration,  407 ;  Falls  in  a  Duel. 
407. 

Bronson,  David,  Me,  209;  Signs  Address,  214. 

Brooks,  James,  New  York,  Announces  Action 
of  Whigs,  25U;  Votes,  35:<,  300,  371. 

Brooks,  Preston  S.,  South  Carolina.  Assaults  Mr. 
Sumner,  394  :  Resigns  his  Seat,  896. 

Brown,  John,  424;  Takes  Harper's  Ferry,  425; 
Two  Sons  Killed  and  himself  Wounded,  Sur 


renders  as  a  Prisoner,  425 ;  he  and  his  follow 
ers  Executed,  426. 

Brown,  John,  Jr.,  Refuses  to  appear  before  Com 
mittee  of  Senate,  437. 

Brown,  George  H.,  Rhode  Island,  469,  480. 

Brown,  Aaron  V.,  Tenn.,  Addresses  General 
Jackson,  223. 

Brown,  Charles,  Pa.,  187,  209.  267,  270,  2S4,  293, 
298. 

Brown,  Jeremiah,  Pa.,  234. 

Brown,  William  J.,  Ind.,  235,  302;  Gives  Pledges, 
303,  318,  328. 

Buchanan,  Andrew,  Pa.,  118. 

Buchanan,  James,  Elected  President,  399 ;  First 
Message,  405;  Encourages  Invasion  of  Central 
America,  414;  Discharges  Walker,  415;  Sus 
tains  Slavery  in  the  Territories,  421 ;  Declares 
Slaves  Property,  422;  Advises  Payment  for 
Amistad  Slaves,  422;  Alarmed  at  Brown's 
Raid,  424;  His  Official  Mendacity,  449;  Holds 
Correspondence  with  Rebels,  453;  Communi 
cates  Proposition  of  Virginia,  458;  Retires, 
leaving  War  and  a  Dismembered  Government, 
461. 

Buel,  A.  W..  Mich.,  318,  328,  330. 

Buffington.  Joseph,  Pa.,  234. 

Burke," Edmund,  New  Hampshire,  186,  209. 

Burnel,  Barker,  Mass.,  186,  209. 

Burch,  John  C.,  Cal.,  441. 

Burns,  Joseph,  Ohio,  411. 

Burnham,  A.  A.,  Ct,  479. 

Burroughs,  Lorenzo,  New  York,  318,  328,  830, 
334. 

Butler,  Chester,  Pa.,  270,  287,  2SS,  318,  828,  330, 
334. 

Butler,  Thomas,  Ct,  329.  334. 

Butler,  Benjamin  P.,  Proposes  to  put  down  Slave 
Insurrections  461;  Discards  claims  of  Slaverv, 
465 ;  Orders  Enlistment  of  Negroes,  484, 

Cable,  Joseph,  Ohio,  301,  31 8,  334. 

Cadwallader,  John,  Pa.,  396. 

Calhoun,  Win.  B.,  Mass.  Attends  meeting  Ac.. 
161.  Votes.  186,  209.  Signs  address,  214. 

Calhoun.  John  C.  Denies  the  "self-evident 
truths'' on  which  the  Government  was  founded, 
97.  Declares  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  D.  C. 
unconstitutional,  102.  Attempts  to  suppress 
anti-slavery  publications,  105.  Regards  slavery 
yust,  106.  Attempts  to  change  international 
law,  112,  113,  114.  Proposes  to  suppress  agi 
tation,  119,  120.  Hesitates  in  regard  to  slave- 
trade,  192.  His  doctrines,  212.  Opposed  to 
Mexican  war,  253.  Proposes  to  withdraw 
army,  258.  Declares  preamble  of  act  false, 
265.  Denounces  Mr.  Halc's  motion,  277.  De 
sponds,  294.  His  last  speech,  315.  Death,  316. 

California.  Bill  oncaniziiifl:  free  government 
in,  293.  Walker's  amendment,  296.  Bill 
passes  House,  296.  Senate  does  not  concur, 
298.  Left  without  a  government,  309.  Asks 
admission,  813.  Vote  in  Senate,  336.  In 
House,  337. 

Calvert,  Charles  B.,  Maryland,  469,  479. 

Calvin,  Thomas.  Pa.,  SIS,  JJ2S,  334. 

Cambrelling,  C.  C.,  New  York,  110. 

Campbell,  Lewis  D.,  Ohio,  318,  33o,  334.  Candi 
date  for  speaker,  3S3  Intrigues  with  Mar 
shall,  385.  Loses  confidence  of  his  friends, 
886.  Will  not  look  at  national  difficulties, 
392.  Offers  resolutions  of  inquiry,  394. 

Campbell,  James  H.,  Pa.,  443,  468,  469.  Offers 
resolution  confiscating  slaves,  472,  475,  479. 

Cameron,  Simon.  Appointed  Secretary  of  War, 
463. 

Carter,  David  K,  318,  328,  329,  330,  834,  361. 
Opposes  adoption  of  primal  truths,  44? 

Carpenter,  Levi  D..  New  York,  234. 

Carey,  Shephard,  Me ,  2:J8. 
hu  S.,  Va.,  480. 


INDEX. 


489 


Carrol,  Charles  IT.,  234. 

Cass,  Lewis.  Makes  no  rejection  to  the  enslave 
ment  of  freemen,  143.  Candidate  for  Presi 
dent,  283,  333.  Declares  it  atrocious  to  advise 
slaves  to  escape,  346,  3t?9.  Congratulates 
country  on  passage  of  Kansas  bill,  372.  His 
character,  279.  Exhibits  emotion  on  retiring, 
379.  Discards  policy  of  adhering  to  primal 
truths,  398.  Resigns  office  of  Secretary  of 
State,  453. 

Carey,  Joseph,  Pa.,  318,  328,  330,  334. 

Carthcart,  Cttarles  W.,  Indiana,  271,  287. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.  Demands  a  hearing  in  behalf 
of  the  free  States,  353.  Signs  address  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  366.  The  only 
candidate  for  President  who  had  been  an  early 
advocate  of  human  rights,  445.  Appointed 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  463. 

Childs,  Timothy,  New  York,  209.      ' 

Chittenden,  Thomas  C.,  New  York,  186,  209. 
Signs  address,  214. 

Chamberliri,  J.  P.,  4GS,  409. 

Chandler,  Zechariah,  Mich.,  480. 

Clvicago  Convention.  Adopt  amendment  enun 
ciating  elementary  truths,  445,  446. 

Clapp,  Asa  W..  Me..  267,  291,  293,  298. 

Clark,  Daniel,  New  York,  48. 

Clark,  Franklin,  Me.,  267.  270,  284,  291,  298. 

Clark,  John  C .,  New  York,  2u9,  214. 

Clark,  Staley  N.,  New  York,  209. 

Clark,  Lincoln,  Iowa,  356,  361. 

Clark,  J.  H.,  Rhode  Island,  360. 

Clark,  Ezra,  Ct.,  411. 

Clark,  Horace  F.,  New  York,  411,  46S,  469,  479. 

Clark,  Samuel,  Michigan.  370. 

Clay,  Henry.  Distinguished  as  an  advocate  of 
liberty,  51.  By  his  vote  establishes  slavery  in 
Arkansas,  66.  Resigns  office,  OS.  Proposes 
compromise,  71,  72.  Assailed  by  Randolph, 
81.  Candidate  for  President,  127.  Presents 
memorial  in  favor  of  slavery,  127.  Approves 
pro-slavery  publications,  135.  Avows  anti- 
slavery  doctrines,  231.  Is  candidate  for  Presi 
dent,  236.  Is  inconsistent,  347.  His  death, 
352.  Contributed  to  the  rebellion,  470. 

Clayton,  Thomas,  Del.  Votes  against  Mexican 
War,  253. 

Clergy.  Three  thousand  and  fifty  remonstrate 
against  extension  of  slavery,  36T.  Five  hun 
dred  from  Illinois  remonstrate,  370.  They 
resolve  against  if,  370. 

Cleveland,  Chauncey  F.,  Ct  Acts  with  repub 
licans,  301,  306,  318. 

Clifford,  Nathan.  Me.,  209. 

Clinton,  James,  New  York,  186,  209. 

Clingman,  Thos.  L..  North  Carolina.  Threatens 
dissolution  of  the  Union,  203,  214. 

Cobden,  Richard,  and  other  European  statesmen, 
become  silent  on  American  liberty,  467. 

Cobb,  Howell,  Georgia.  Reports  in  favor  of 
paying  for  slaves,  244.  Elected  speaker,  80S. 

Cobb,  George  F.,  New  Jersey,  4G8,  469,  475, 
479. 

Cochrane,  John,  New  York,  411,  412,  441,  445. 

Cole,  Orsemus,  Wis.,  318,  330,  334. 

Colerain.     Treaty  of,  21. 

Colfax,  Schuyler,  Indiana,  468,  469,  475,  479. 

Collaruer,  Jacob,  Vt.,  480. 

Collins,  William,  New  York,  267,  -270. 

"Comet."  A  slave  ship.  Indemnity  claimed 
for  slaves  on  b'oard  of,  '205. 

Compensation  for  slaves  lost  or  killed  in  the 
public  service,  40. 

Compromises  of  the  Constitution,  12.  Of  Mis 
souri,  63.  Of  Congress,  348.  singular  com 
pact  in  regard  of,  in  vote,  34S.  Mr.  Foote's 
resolutions  to  support,  351.  Pronounced  wise 
and  just.  354,  They  fail,  408. 

Conklin,  F.  A.,  New  York,  46S,  475,  479. 

Conklin,  Roscoe,  New  York,  46^.  469,  475,  479. 


Connecticut.  Legislature  of  deprecate  repeal 
of  Missouri  Compromise. 

Confiscation  and  emancipation,  act  for,  469,  470. 

Conger,  James  L.,  Mich.,  300. 

Conger,  Harmon  S.,  New  York,  270,  285,  287, 
318,  328,  329,  330. 

Congress  convenes  under  President's  proclam 
ation,  465.  Singular  hallucination  of  members, 
466.  Pass  a  law  for  dismissing  officers  who 
catch  slaves,  477. 

Constitution.  Amendments  of.  12.  13.  Prohrb- 
its  Congress  from  interfering  with  life  or  lib 
erty,  13;  37. 

I  Cooper,  James,  Pa,  188.  209. 
I  Court,  Supreme.     Precious  instrument  for  sup 
porting  slavery,   402.      Case  of   Dred  Scott 
402-3.    Shocked  Public  conscience,  404. 

Corwin,  Moses  B.,  Ohio,  318,  330,  334. 

Corwin,  Thomas.  His  political  character,  430. 
Announces  himself  an  exponent  of  republican 
doctrines,  431. 

Cowen,  Benjamin  S.,  Ohio,  188,  210. 

Cowen,  Edgar,  Pa.,  480. 

Covode,  John,  Pa  ,  468,  469,  475,  479. 

Cox,  Samuel,  Ohio,  411,  408,  469,  475,  479. 

Cravens,  James  A.,  Indiana,  46S,  469,  479. 

Crimes  of  Slavery,  36^  370. 

Crisfield,  John  W.,  Maryland.  469,  470,  479. 

Crittenden,  John  J.,  Ky.  Seizes  Brooks,  to  pre 
vent  assassination  of  Sunnier,  344.  Politically 
conservative,  410.  Would  change  Constitu 
tion,  455,  409,  470,  475,  479.  Denies  power  of 
Congress  to  emancipate  slaves,  481. 

Cuban  slaves.    Ought  not  to  be  liberated,  80. 

Cuba.  Plan  for  obtaining,  252.  Efforts  to  ob 
tain,  374,  422.  Bill  introduced.  422. 

Cummins,  John  D.,  O  ,  279,  287,  "90. 

Curtiss,  G.  W.,  New  York.  Proposes  to  insert 
elementary  principles  in  Chicago  platform, 
445. 

Cushing,  Caleb,  Mass.  Declares  resolutions  of 
the  author  "  an  approximation  to  treason,1' 
182, 186.  Vindicates  slave-trade,  208,  209. 

Cutting,  Francis  B.,  New  York.  Moves  reference 
of  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  369.  Replies  to  Mr. 
Breckenridge,  370,  371. 

Cutler,  W.  P.,  Ohio,  469. 

Dana,  Amasa,  New  York,  234. 

Darling,  Mason  G,  Wis.,  285,  287. 

Darragh,  Cornelius,  Pa.,  234 

Davis,  Garrett,  Ky.  Proposes  to  obtain  fugitive 
slaves  from  Canada  by  Negotiation,  141. 
Unites  with  Mr.  Ingersol  in  report  on  Consti 
tution,  221. 

Davis,  John,  Mass.,  129,  139,  23l\ 

Davis,  Richard  D.,  New  York.  186,  209,  219,  234. 

Davis,  John  W.,  Ind.,  235. 

Davis,  John  G.,  Ind.,  271, ,411,  443. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  Miss.,  asserts  that  slaves  arc 
property,  266 ;  Quotes  Constitution,  267;  Pro 
nounces  resolutions  of  Mr.  Hale  calculated  to 
protect  kidnappers,  277;  Presents  resolutions, 
321;  Supports  slaveholding  Constitution  for 
Kansas,  405;  Asserts  duty  of  his  State  to  se 
cede,  436;  His  resolutions,  437. 

Davis,  M.  M.,  Pa.,  468.  479. 

Dawes,  H.  L.,  Mass.,  468,  469. 

Dawson,  John  B.,  Louisiana,  Assaults  Author. 
210  ;  Threatens  to  shoot  him,  241. 

Dawson,  John  L.  P.,  371. 

Dean,  Ezra,  Connecticut,  188,  210. 

Dean,  Gilbert,  New  York.  353,  364;  Objects  to 
pensioning  widow  of  Bntchelder,  378. 

Delano,  Columbus,  Ohio,  Exposes  crimes  of  Mex 
ican  War,  253. 

Delano,  Charles,  Mass.,  468,  475. 

Democrats  educated  to  believe  it  a  duty  to  sup 
port  slavery,  227. 

Democratic  party  avows  no  essential  principle. 


490 


INDEX. 


856 ;  In  power,  362 ;  Members  believe  party  in 
vincible,  370,  371 ;  Prepare  for  an  other  step  to 
wards  dissolution  of  the  Union,  373;  Members 
desire  civil  war,  373;  Fall  into  minority.  382; 
Hasten  to  adopt  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  404; 
Seek  to  hide  facts  from  the  people,  408 ;  Seek 
to  revive  former  policy,  420;  Regard  decep 
tion,  fraud,  and  crime  necessary,  444:  Unable 
to  withstand  the  force  of  truth,  446;  One  por 
tion  unites  with  Douglas,  another  follows 
Breckinridge,  446;  Expected  to  unite  with 
slaveholders  in  carrying  out  rebellion,  449; 
Devotes  its  influence  to  support  slavery,  461 ; 
Disappears  amid  the  ruins  of  that  institution, 
46(5;  Inspired  with  hope,  467;  Members  be 
come  desperate,  481. 

Democratic  Committee  of  New  York  appointed 
to  report  on  raid  of  John  Brown,  425 ;  They 
report  that  Hon.  John  P.  Hale,  Hon.  Gerrit 
Smith,  and  the  Author,  were  involved  in  it, 
426. 

Denver,  J.  W.,  Cal.,  896. 

Deported  slaves,  under  treaty  of  17S3.  claims  for, 
19,  49,  82,  103;  Claim  of  Hodges  under  treaty 
of  Ghent,  281.  232;  Mr.  Hunter's  motion  rela 
tive  to  deported  slaves,  321;  Compensation 
claimed,  41S;  vide  "Treaty  of  Ghent." 

Dewart,  W.  L.,  Pa.,  411. 

Dickey,  John.  Pa,  234,  270,  2S7;  Reports  against 
claim  of  Pacheco,  289;  Leads  in  Debate,  290, 
330. 

Dickinson,  Rodolplms,  Ohio.  267,  270,  287. 

Dickinson,  Daniel  S.,  New  York,  333. 

Dillingham,  Paul.  Vt,  234. 

Dimmock,  MiloM..  Pa ,  861. 

Dimmock,  W.  H.,  Pa.,  411. 

Dirney,  David  F.,  Ohio,  361,  371. 

Dissolution  of  the  Union  if  a  Northern  President 
were  elected,  384.  386. 

Diven.  A.  S.,  New  York.  458,  469,  475,  479. 

Dix,  John  A.,  New  York,  Presents  resolutions 
of  that  State,  291. 

Dixon,  James.  Ct.,  270,  2S5,  287. 

Dixou,  Nathan,  Rhode  Island,  318,  323,  329. 

Doan,  William,  Ohio,  185,  210. 

Dodge.  A.  C.,  Wis.,  360. 

Dodge,  Heury,  Iowa,  Introduces  Nebraska  bill, 
364, 369.  ' 

Doig,  W.  A.,  New  York,  186,  209. 

Doty,  James  D.,  Wis.,  318,  330,  334 

Doolittle,  J.  R.,  Wis.,  votes  to  pay  for  deported 
slaves,  418,  480. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.;  Denies  the  existence  of  a 
higher  law,  344;  His  character,  365;  Reports 
bill  to  repeal  Missouri  Compromise,  365;  As 
sails  those  who  signed  address  to  people,  366, 
369;  Denounces  Ministers,  368;  Assails  reso 
lutions  of  Clergy  at  Chicago,  870;  Excuses 
him  in  regard  to  attack  on'Mr.  Sumner,  395 ; 
Opposes  despotism  of  Convention  in  Kansas, 
405;  Opposed  to  the  President,  407 ;  Approved 
invasion  of  Kansas.  408;  Charges  Republicans 
•with  cherishing  offensive  doctrines,  435;  Is 
sustained  by  a  portion  of  his  party,  446. 

Dred,  Scott,  Case  of.  402,  403,  404;  Examined,  409. 

Duel,  R.  H.,  New  York,  468,  4'59,  475,  479. 

Duer,  William,  New  York,  270,  2S1 ;  Holds  collo 
quial  debate,  305,  318,  32S. 

Dunn,  McKee,  Ind.,  443,  463,  469,  475,  479. 

Dunn,  George  H.,  Ind.,  285,  287,  291. 

Dunham,  Cyrus  L.,  lud.,  318,  328,  330,  334,  361, 
370. 

Dun  lap,  Robert  P.,  Me.,  233. 

Dunlap,  G.  W.,  Ky.,  469,  470,  479. 

Duncan,  James,  Mass.,  818,  328,  329,  360. 

Duncan,  Alexander,  Ohio,  Offers  a  bill  for  taking 
possession  of  Oregon,  246;  Votes  for  annexing 
Texas,  235. 

Eastman,  Ira,  New  Hampshire,  209. 


Eckhart,  G.  W.,  Pa.,  270,  2S5. 

Eddy,  Norman,  Pa.,  371. 

Ednwndson,  Brother  «fc  Sisters,  their  history,  279. 

Edgerton,  Alfred  P.,  Ohio,  361. 

Edgerton,  Sidney,  Ohio,  468,  475,  479. 

Edsal,  Joseph,  New  Jersey,  270. 

Edwards,  Thomas  M.,  New  Hampshire,  465,  469, 
475,  479. 

Edwards,  Thomas  O.,  Ohio,  271,  287. 

Edwards,  Ninian,  111.,  Announces  his  own  moral 
cowardice,  61. 

Ellis,  Cheselden,  New  York,  234. 

Elliott,  Samuel  D.,  Mass.,  327,  329,  334. 

Elliott,  T.  D.,  Mass.,  468,  469  ;  Presents  resolution, 
472,479. 

Ely,  Alfred,  New  York,  468,  479. 

Emancipation  and  Confiscation  Act,  469;  An 
other  act  of  Emancipation,  478,  479;  An  era  in 
American  history,  480;  Proclamation  of,  435; 
Quakers  direct,  at  their  yearly  meeting,  22,  23. 

Emancipated  Persons  in  North  Carolina  re-en 
slaved,  23;  Petition  of,  24;  Those  of  Hayti 
excluded  from  our  Slave  States.  31. 

Einbree,  Elisha,  Ind.,  271,  235,  287. 

Emigrant  Aid  Society,  373. 

English,  W.H.,  Ind.,  Opposes  expulsion  of  Brooks, 
895,  396;  Reads  proceedings  of  a  religious 
meeting  in  Chicago,  432. 

English,  James  E.,  Ct,  463,  469.  475, 479. 

Etheridge,  Emerson,  Tenn.,  Offers  resolution 
against  slave-trade,  401. 

European  statesmen  speak  offensively  of  our  gov 
ernment,  467;  Noble  Lords  criticise  General 
Butler's  order,  467,  46-\ 

Evans,  Nathan,  Ohio,  271,  287,  318,  328,  329,  330, 
334. 

Everett,  Edward,  Mass.,  Replies  to  attacks  on 
clergy,  368;  Holds  slaves  to  be  property.  90. 

Everett,  Horace,  Vt.,  Moves  to  lay  author's  reso 
lution  on  the  table,  182 ;  Moves  to  print  5,000 
copies  of  proceedings,  19^,  2o9. 

Ewing,  Thomas,  Ohio,  Fails  to  vote,  333. 

Exiles  of  Florida  flee  to  Mexico,  256. 

Farrincrton,  James,  New  Hampshire,  118. 

Fairfk-ld,  John,  Me.  118. 

FarW,  Isaac,  New  Jersey.  234. 

Farrdly,' John  W.,  Pa.,  270,  237. 

Farnsworth,  John  F.,  Confronts  slaveholders,  432. 

Farran,  James  J.,  Ohio.  271,  285,  291. 

Fetteh,  Alpheus,  Michigan.  333. 

Fenton,  Reuben  E.,  New  York.  468.  469,  475,  479. 

Ferris,  Charles  G.,  New  York,  186.  209. 

Fessenden,  William  P..  Me,,  18(5,  209;  Replies  to 
Mr.  Douglas,  435,  480. 

Fessenderi^Sarnuel  C..  Me.,  468,  469,  475,  479. 

Ficklin,  Orlando  B.,  111.,  235,  271,  2S4,  287,  293, 
298. 

Fillmore,  Millard,  New  York,  Reports  bill  to  pay 
money  to  slave-dealers,  206  ;  Votes  for  it,  2(>9  ; 
Selects  Mr.  Webster  as  Secretary  of  State,  326 ; 
Alarmed  at  the  threats  of  Texas,  326;  Obtains 
convention  for  payment  of  slaves  lost  from  on 
board  Creole  and  other  ships,  330 ;  Contributed 
to  rebellion,  470. 

Fisher,  George  P.,  Del.,  469,  479. 

Fisher,  David,  O.,  270,  287  ;  Reports  against  pay 
ment  for  slaves,  289. 

Fitch,  Graham.  361,  418. 

Fitch,  Graham'  N.,  Ind.,  318,  328,  330.  334. 

Florence,  Thomas,  Pa.,  355, 360,  361,  371,  396,  400, 
441,  443. 

Florence.  Elias.  O.,  235. 

Floyd,  John  G.,  New  York,  1S6.  209. 

Floyd,  Charles  A.,  New  York,  13B,  209. 

Florida,  Purchase  of.  50  ;  Asylum  for  fugitives, 
50;  First  Florida  War,  46-49  ;  Second  Florida 
War,  99-101;  Causes  kept  from  people,  102; 
Causes  exposed,  150 ;  Bloodhounds  employed, 
135;  She  secedes,  457. 


INDEX. 


491 


Foley,  James  B.,  Ind.,  411. 

Foote.  Henry  S,  Mississippi,  Desires  to  hang  Mr. 
Hale,  277;  Assails  Col.  Benton,  315;  Affray 
with, 336;  Sustai ns Compromise, 351 ;  Dictates 
course  to  be  followed,  352. 

Foote,  Solomon,  Vt,  234,  241,  480. 

Forname,  Joseph,  Pa..  209. 

Foster,  A.  Lawrence.  209. 

Foster,  Henry  D.,  Pa.,  234. 

Foster,  L.  F.  S.,  Ct.,  480. 

Fowler,  Orrin.  Mass.,  318,  329,  334. 

Fouke.  Philip  B.,  111.,  443,  468,  469,  479. 

Franchot,  Richard,  New  York,  468,  469,  475, 
479. 

Frank,  Augustus,  468,  469,  479. 

French,  E.  B.,  Me.,  442. 

Fremont,  John  C.,  398 ;  Issues  proclamation,  470. 

Free  States  called  to  give  security  for  good  be 
havior,  454. 

Freemen  selling  freemen  into  slavery  in  D.  C., 
378. 

Free-Soilers  nominate  J.  P.  Hale  for  President, 
and  G.  W.  Julian,  Vice-President,  357,  349, 379, 
382,  385,  397. 

Friedley,  John,  Pa,,  270,  235,  287,  318,  328-330, 
334. 

Fries,  George  0.,  270,  287,  291. 

Fugitive  Slaves :  Delivered  under  confederation 
by  States,  12  ;  No  authority  in  Constitution  to 
legislate  on  subject,  17;  Passage  of  Act  of  1793 
first  departure  from  Constitution,  17,  18 ;  In 
dians  stipulate  to  redeem  F.  8.,  19;  History  of 
those  on  the  Appalachicola  River,  20;  Georgia 
peremptorily  demands  return  of  100  slaves  un 
der  treaty  of  New  York,  20,  21 ;  Southern  mem 
bers  complain  that  slaves  find  food  and  cloth 
ing  at  the  North.  31,  32 ;  Many  leave  their  mas 
ters,  38 ;  Fugitive  Act  used  to  enslave  freemen, 
44 ;  Its  barbarous  character,  44 ;  Attempts  to 
make  a  more  stringent  law,  44;  Opponents  of 
slave-trade  denounced,  45;  Bill  lost,  46. 

Fugitive  slave  bill  of  1850  introduced  and  report 
ed,  322;  Is  sustained  by  Mr.  Webster,  323; 
Opposed  by  Messrs.  Hale  and  Chase,  833,  334  ; 
Is  passed  through  House,  334  ;*The  vote,  335  ; 
First  victim  under  it  a  freeman.  340 ;  Slaves 
murdered  in  Pennsylvania,  340  ;  President  ap 
proves  act,  341  ;  Sliadrack  arrested  in  Boston, 
342 ;  Proclamation  of  President  and  general 
orders  of  Secretary  of  War  and  Navy,  343 ;  The 
act  declared  revoking,  &c.,  347  ;  Sims  arrested 
in  Boston,  376,  877  ;  Efforts  of  military  officers 
to  capture,  467  ;  Sent  back  by  military  officers, 
471 ;  Thirty  thousand  fugitives  leave  their 
homes,  346 ;  Infamous  frauds,  347  ;  Petitions  to 
repeal  law,  873. 

Fuller,  J.  D.,  Me.,  (spelled  Porter  in  text),  355, 
360. 

Fuller,  Hiram,  Pa.,  861;  Candidate  for  Speaker, 
884. 

O'ag-rfsoliitions  of  Mr.  Pinckney,  105;  Of  Mr. 
Atherton,  122 ;  Libellous,  123 ;  Of  Mr.  Wise, 
124,  155. 

Gag-rules  repealed,  236,  237. 

Gates,  Seth  M.,  New  York,  Character,134;  Unites 
with  Messrs.  Adams,  Slade,  and  Giddings,  134; 
Meets  with  friends  of  Mr.  Adams,  161 ;  Writes 
address  on  annexation  of  Texas,  213. 

Gaiphin.  A  term  synonymous  with  fraud  and 
peculation,  32aC 

Gamble,  James,  Pa..  861. 

Georgia  establishes  Slavery,  9;  Demands  troops 
to  watch  her  slaves,  1 1 ;  Slaves  leave  their  mas- 
'  ters,  38;  Attempts  to  recapture,  39;  Presents 
claims  for  fugitive  slaves,  93;  Party  to  a  dis 
graceful  fraud,  94;  Demands  captain  of  a  ship 
as  a  fugitive  from  justice,  139;  Calls  for  further 
legislation  in  behalf  of  slavery,  140;  Secedes, 


Gerry,  Elbridge,  Me..  318,  327,  328,  834 

Gerry,  James 'P.,  187,  209. 

Ghent,  Treaty  of,  Prohibits  traffic  in  slaves,  109. 

Giddings,  Joshua  R.,  Ohio,  Assails  slave-trade  in 
D.  C.,  130,  131;  Tests  gag-rules,  143,  149;  In 
sulted,  150 ;  Denounced  by  President  Harrison, 
171;  Presents  resolutions  touching  coast-wise 
slave  trade,  ISO ;  They  are  pronounced  an  ap 
proximation  to  treason,  182  ;  Is  arraigned,  Ir4; 
Censured,  1ST;  Cheered  by  Mr.  Ch.y,  189;  Re 
asserts  doctrines,  193;  Publishes  article  signed 
Pacificas,  196 ;  Argues  question  of  property  in 
men,  210;  Signs  address,  214;  Removed  from 
Committee  on  Claims,  '216;  Contends  for  Mr. 
Adams'  Report,  222;  Avows  doctrines,  227, 
228;  Holds  colloquial  debate,  222 ;  Avows  doc 
trines,  225;  Denounces  annexation  of  Texas, 
238;  Scene  described,  239;  Declares  himself 
for  war,  249;  Votes  alone,  271;  Offers  resolu 
tions,  272;  Visits  prison,  274;  Vindicates  his 
course,  278,  279;  Introduces  bill  to  abolish 
slavery  in  D.  C.,  285,  287 ;  Offers  resolutions 
declaring  life  and  liberty  "  gift*  of  God,"  317; 
Presents  petitions  and  moves  instructions,  319, 
330,834;  Maintains  Kansas  bill,  359;  Argues 
case  of  Amistad  Slaves,  3  ;  Signs  address, 
3C6;  Administers  oath  to  Republican  Speaker, 
389 ;  Replies  to  Vallandigham's  attack,  425 ; 
Ten  thousand  dollars  bid  for  his  head,  425; 
Democratic  Committee  of  New  York  report 
that  he  was  privy  to  Brown's  Raid.  426;  His 
speech  quoted  by  Mr.  Cox,  431 ;  Urges  support 
of  essential  doctrines  at  Chicago  Convention, 
444 ;  Proposes  amendment  of  report,  445. 

Gillis,  James  L.,  Pa. 

Glascock,  Thomas,  Georgia,  Insults  author,  181. 

Goode,  Patrick  G.,  Ohio,  1SS,  209. 

Goodenow.  R.  K.,  Me..  210,318. 

Gorman,  Willis  A.,  Ind.,  Declares  Secession  mon 
strous  in  principle  and  destructive  in  practice, 
354,  361. 

Gooch,  D.  W.,  Mass.,  268,  275,  279. 

Goodwin,  John  N,  New  York,  479. 

Goodrich,  Z.,  Mass.,  360. 

Gordon,  Samuel,  New  York,  186,  209. 

Gott,  Daniel,  New  York,  270,  '285;  Offers  resolu 
tion  against  slave-trade,  2S6,  287,  31  S,  330, 
334. 

Gould,  Herman  D.,  New  York,  328,  S30,  384. 

Governments,  British  and  American,  Unity  in 
supporting  a  traffic  in  slaves,  381. 

Granger,  B.  F.,  Michigan,  468,  4W,  475. 

Granger,  Francis,  New  York,  Expresses  surprise 
at  course  of  Mr.  Adams,  109,  186,  2(.9. 

Greeley,  Horace,  New  York,  285,  287. 

Green,  F.  W.,  Ohio,  361,  371. 

Green,  John  S.,  Missouri,  Proposes  an  armed  po 
lice  along  the  line  between  Slave  and  Free 
States,  454. 

Green,  A.  K,  Rhode  Island,  333. 

Green,  Byram,  New  York,  234 

Gregory,  D.  S.,  New  Jersey,  270,  2S5,  287. 

Greg?,  James  M.,  Ind.,  411. 

Grinnell,  Joseph,  Mass.,  252,  270,  283. 

Grider,  Henry,  Ky.,  469,  470,  479. 

Grimes,  James  M.,  Iowa,  480. 

Groesbeck,  W.  S.,  Ohio,  411. 

Gurley,  John  A.,  Ohio,  468,  469,  475,  479. 

Gustine,  Amos,  Pa.,  210. 

Haight,  Edward,  New  York,  4«S,  469,  475,  479. 

Hale,  John  P.,  New  Hampshire.  His  political 
course,  in  n ote,  236;  Votes  against  resolution 
of  thanks  to  General  Taylor,  8T2;  Introduces 
bill  to  prevent  riots,  &c.,  276;  Is  assailed  by 
Calhoun,  277  ;  Presents  resolutions  of  Quakers, 
312  ;  Assailed  by  Butler,  319  ;  Opposes  fugitive 
act,  332;  Holds  up  mirror  to  slaveholders,  352; 
Nominated  for  President,  357;  Signs  address, 
366 ;  Reviews  President's  Message,  400 ;  Unites 


492 


INDEX. 


with  slaveholders  in  denying  right  of  visitation, 
417;  Opposes  payment  for  slaves.  418;  Charg 
ed  with  participating  in  raid  of  John  Brown, 
426;  Analyzes  President's  Message,  454,  480. 

Hale,  Arternus,  Mass.,  270.  284,  2S7. 

Hale,  James  T.,  Pa..  468,  469,  479. 

Hall,  N.  K.,  New  York,  270,  285,  286. 

Hall,  Highland,  Vt,  168,  209. 

Hall.  L.  W.,  Ohio,  411. 

Hallstead,  William,  New  Jersey,  186,  209. 

Halleck,  General,  Excludes  fugitives  from  his 
lines,  471. 

Halloway,  Kamson,  328-330,  334. 

Hallucination  of  Members  of  Congress,  465. 

Hamlin,  Hannibal,  Me.,  Opposes  payment  for 
deported  slaves,  418,  441. 

Hamlin.  E.  S.,  Ohio,  234. 

Hampton,  Moses,  Pa.,  270,  287,  298,  318,  334. 

Hammond,  R.  II.,  Pa,  198. 

Hampton,  James  G.,  New  Jersey,  270,  287. 

Harding,  Aaron.  Ky.,  469,  470,  475,  479. 

Harding,  J.  J.,  111.,  236. 

Harlan,"  Andrew  J.,  Ind.,  318,  330,  334. 

Harper,  Alexander,  Ohio,  236. 

Hart,  E.  B.,  New  York,  360. 

Harrison,  W.  H.,  Ohio,  32;  Elected  President, 
142;  His  inaugural,  152;  Lives  but  a  month, 
154. 

Harrison,  Kichard  A.,  Ohio,  479. 

Harris,  Ira,  New  York,  480. 

Harris,  Thomas  L.,  111.,  Denounces  Lecompton 
Constitution,  408. 

Haskins,  John  B.,  New  York,  411,  441. 

Hastings,  Israel,  New  York,  411. 

Haws,  John  II.,  New  York,  361. 

Hay,  A.  K.,  New  Jersey,  334. 

Hayes,  Samuel,  Pa.,  234. 

Hayti,  Commercial  relations  with,  suspended,  35. 

Hibburd,  William,  Vt,  318,  328,  330,  334. 

Hendricks,  Thomas  A.,  Ind.,  371. 

Henley,  Thomas  J.,  Ind.,  235,  271,  287. 

Henry,  Thomas,  Pa.,  Meets  with  friends  of  Mr. 
Adams,  161;  Votes,  187,210. 

Henry,  William,  Vt,  285,  318,  330,  334. 

Hibbard,  Harry,  New  Hampshire,  339,  334,  335, 
371. 

Hickman.  John,  Pa,  Offers  resolution,  384. 

Higher  Law,  Its  existence  denied,  346. 

Holmes,  Elias  B.,  New  York,  270,  2S5,  2S7. 

Holmes,  Isaac  E.,  South  Carolina,  Is  eloquently 
inspired,  182. 

Hoagland,  Morris,  Ohio,  318,  328,  330,  334. 

Holman,  W.  S.,  Ind.,  441,  468,  469,  475,  479. 

Holt,  Orrin,  Ct.,  118. 

Hoge,  Joseph  P.,  III.,  235. 

Hooper,  Bamuel,  Mass.,  497. 

Horton,  Gilbert,  a  man  of  color,  advertised  for 
sale  in  Washington,  83,  84. 

Horton,  V.  B.,  468.  4(59,  479. 

Howe,  John  W.,  Pa.,  301,  320,  330,  334,  359. 

Howe,  Thomas,  Pa,  318. 

Howard,  William,  Ohio,  441. 

Howe,  Timothy,  Wis.,  480. 

Howard,  Jacob  M.,  Michigan,  188;  Signs  address, 
214,480. 

Hubbard,  Henry,  New  Hampshire,  129,  139. 

Hubbell,  W.  S.,  New  York,  234. 

Hudson,  Charles,  Mass.,  Ifc6,  209;  Signs  address, 
214  ;  Prepares  to  defend  author,  252. 

Hungerford,  Orville,  New  York,  234. 

Hunter,  General,  Issues  order  emancipating 
slaves,  471. 

Hunt,  Hiram  P.,  New  York,  186,  209. 

Hunt,  Washington.  New  York,  234,  270,  287. 

Hutchins,  John,  Ohio,  Would  protect  free  blacks 
in  Southern  States,  453,  468,  469  ;  Would  direct 
Marshall  to  discharge  all  persons  not  imprison 
ed  fur  crime,  474,  475,  479. 

Huyler,  John,  New  Jersey,  411. 

Hyatt,  Thaddeus,  Mass.,  Refuses  to  appear  before 


Committee,438 ;  Is  committed,  440 ;  Is  arrested, 
469. 

Illinois,  Bill  admitting  State  of,  56:  Passed,  57. 

Indiana  Territory,  Petition  for  Slavery  in,  32; 
Petitions  again,  36;  Quakers  remonstrate 
against  it,  36. 

Indians,  Sfminole,  Treaty  of  Camp  Moultrie, 
79;  Stipulate  to  Surrender  Slaves,  80 ;  Culled 
on  to  deliver  up,  99. 

Ingersol,  Charles  J.,  Pa.  Misrepresents  Mr.  Ad 
ams,  155;  is  Corrected,  156;  Votes  to  Censure 
Writer,  186;  Votes  to  sustain  Slave-dealers, 
209;  Makes  Eeport  in  favor  of  paying  for 
Amistad  Slaves,  222;  Moves  to  Print  Ki.OOO 
Copies,  and  votes  to  lay  his  Motion  on  the  Ta 
ble,  222. 

Ingersol,  Collin  M.,  Ct.,  355,  361,  377. 

Ingersol,  Joseph  K.,  Pa ,  Unites  in  Report  to  pay 
Slave-dealers,  206 ;  Votes  for  Bill,  2c9  ;  to  Cen 
sure  Author,  187;  Unites  with  Mr.  Davis  in 
Report,  221. 

Irvine,  James,  Pa,  Votes,  186,  209,  234,  284,  2S7, 
298. 

Iverson,  George  A.,  Georgia,  Declares  that  all 
attempts  to  save  the  Union  must  fail,  455,  460. 

Irwin,  William  W.,  Pa,  187,  209. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  Advises  removal  of  Maroons 
from  Florida,  78,  79  ;  Consistent  supporter  of 
Slavery,  98;  Declares  Ami  slavery  Unconsti 
tutional,  opposed  to  Humanity  and  Relig 
ion,  102;  Advises  Annexation  of  Texas,  2'2o; 
Patronized  Traffic  in  SLives,  205.  470. 

Jackson,  W.  F.,  New  York.  318,  330,  334. 

Jackson, ,  Ky.,  469,  470,  479. 

Jack,  James,  Pa.,  186,  209. 

James,  Francis,  Pa.,  187,  209. 

James,  C.  F.,  Rhode  Island,  360. 

Jay,  John,  Negotiates  Treaty,  10;  Declares  de 
mand  on  England  for  deported  Slaves  is 
Odious,  19. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  Writes  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  10;  Leader  of  Republican  Party,  30; 
Pardons  men  convicted  of  violating  Sedition 
Law,  30;  is  Alarmed  at  the  Slave  question, 
66,  67. 

Jessup,  General,  Makes  Contract  with  Indians, 
241; 'its  peculiar  character,  242;  Declares 
Slaves  the  property  of  the  United  States, 
242. 

Jenks,  Michael.  Pa,  234. 

Jenkins,  Timothy,  New  York,  270. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  Tenn.,  480. 

Johnson,  Perley  B..  Ohio,  235. 

Johnson,  Philip,  Pa.,  468,  469.  475,  480. 

Johnson,  James  II.,  New  Hampshire,  Votes 
against  Abolition  of  Slave-trade,  267,  j>84,  2>6. 

Jones,  J.  Glancy,  Pa,  361,  371,  396,  411. 

Jones,  Owen,  Pa.,  411. 

Jones,  George  W.,  Iowa,  332.  8f>4,  368,  369. 

Jones,  William,  a  Colored  Man,  advertised  lor 
Sale,  218,  219. 

Julian,  George  W.,  Ind.,  Elected  as  an  Advocate 
of  Liberty,  300;  Fails  to  vote  for  W.  J.  Brown, 
303,  318,  330,  334;  Nominated  for  Vice  Presi 
dent,  357,  468,  469,  475,  479. 

Kansas,  Demands  attention,  390.  Invaded  by 
military  force,  and  civil  war  commenced,  391. 
Bill  admitting  as  a  slave  State  passed  by  Sen 
ate,  and  President  approves  the  war,  391. 
Acts  of  self-styled  legislature  void,  392.  Civil 
•war  continues,  399."  Self-styled  legislature 
pass  an  act  for  fornrng  a  constitution,  404. 
Refuse  to  submit  it  to  vote  of  people,  405. 
Lecompton  constitution  transmitted  to  Con 
gress,  407.  Returned,  411.  People  elect  dele- 
gates  to  form  a  free  State  constitution,  413. 
j  Topeka  constitution  formed,  413.  People  form 


INDEX. 


493 


another  and  demand  admission,  420.  Bill 
passed,  441. 

K-tmas-yebraskn.  Bill  introduced,  365.  Passes 
Senate,  369.  Vote  in  House,  371.  Passed 
Senate  as  amended,  372.  Country  congratu 
lated,  372. 

Kellogff,  James  W.,  Mich.,  463,  469,  475,  479. 

Kellogg,  Orlando,  New  York,  270,  285,  2S7. 

Kellogg,  William,  111,  427,  463,469,  479. 

Kelly!"  John  P..  Pa..  468,  469,  475,  479. 

Kelly,  John.  New  York,  411. 

Kemble,  Gouverneur,  New  York,  118. 

Kenedy,  Andrew,  Indiana,  188,  210. 

Kenon,  William.  Ohio,  271,  284,  287,  293,293. 

Kenyon,  W.  8.,  New  York,  44-3. 

Kehn,  George  M.,  Pa.     Anecdote,  in  note,  167. 

Kerrigan,  James  E.,  New  York,  479. 

Kinjr,  Preston,  New  York.  Vide  note  page, 
28ti.  Votes,  237,  300,  302,  318,  330,  333. 

Kins,  Daniel  P.,  Mass.,  234,  252,  270,  2S6,  318, 
••'•j!i,  §30.  334. 

Kins.  James  G..  New  Jersey,  318,  328.  330.  334. 

King,  John  A.,  New  York,  315,  328,  329,  330. 

King,  Georse  P.,  Rhode  Island,  328,  329,  333. 

Kiilinger,  J.  W.,  Pa.,  463,  475. 

Kileore.  DavM,  Indiana,  427. 

Kirkpatrick,  Littleton,  New  Jersey. 

Klinsing,  Smith,  John,  Pa.,  US. 

Knapp,  A.  L.,  III.,  479. 

Knight.  N.  R.,  Khode  Island. 

Know-Nothing  party,  382.  Their  doctrines, 
382.  Hold  convention,  397.  Propose  union 
with  Republicans,  397.  Their  political  death, 
399. 

Ko8suth.  Invited  to  the  United  States,  353. 
Effects  of  his  visit,  353. 

Kuhns,  Joseph  II.,  Pa ,  855,  361. 

Kurts,  W.  H.,  Pa.,  361,  371. 

Lahn,  Samuel,  Ohio,  271,  285,  287,  291. 

Lane,  James  II.,  Kansas,  371,  480. 

Lane,  Henry  S.,  Indiana,  183,  210,  480. 

Landy,  James,  Pa.,  411. 

Lansing,  New  York,  463,  469,  475,  479. 

Larabe,  Charles  II ,  Wis.,  441. 

Latham,  M.  8.,  Cal.,  480. 

IMW,  International,  380,  381. 

Law,  Higher.     Its  existence  denied,  340. 

Law,  John,  Indiana,  469,  475,  479. 

Lawrence,  William.  Ohio,  411. 

Lawrence,  Joseph,  Pa.,  161,  187,  210. 

Lawrence,  Sidney,  New  York,  270,  235,  270. 

Lawrence,  W.  F.,  New  York.  270,  285,  270. 

Lasear,  Jesse,  Pa.,  46S,  475,  480. 

Leach,  De  Witt  C.,  Mich.,  412. 

Leary,  C.  L.,  Maryland,  479. 

Leavitt,  Eev.  Joshua.  Meets  with  friends  of  Mr. 
Adams,  161.  Acts  on  committee,  162. 

Lehman,  W.  E.,  Pa.,  430. 

Leidy,  Paul,  Pa.,  411. 

Levin,  Lewis  C.,  Pa.,  234, 291,  298,  323,  330. 

Life,  liberty,  and  happiness  are  natural  rights, 
10.  Equally  the  gift  of  God  to  all  men,  17. 
No  person  to  be  deprived  of  by  Federal  Gov 
ernment,  33. 

Lilly,  Samuel,  New  Jersey,  371. 

Louis,  Archibald,  New  York,  186,  209,  214. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  Illinois,  271,  284,  287.  Nom 
inated  for  President,  445.  Has  but  little  Con 
gressional  support,  446.  A  dangerous  man, 
4T>4.  Inaugurated  President,  4t»i  Asserts 
doctrines,  462.  His  cabinet,  463.  Convenes 
Congress,  465.  Vide  '"President." 

Liml.ed  powers  of  Government,  10,  60,  61. 

Littlcfleld,  N.  8.,  Me.,  186,  209,  318,  327. 

Lock  hart,  James,  Indiana,  361. 

Logan,  Henry,  Pa.,  118. 

Logan,  John  A.,  III.,  441,  443,  463. 

Loomis,  Arphaxed,  New  York,  1S6,  209,  214. 

Loomis,  Dwight,  Ct.,468,  469,  475,479. 


Louisiana  secedes,  457. 

Lovejoy,  Owen,  111.      Presents   resolution,  4G7 

468, 4C9,  475,  476,  479. 
Lowell,  Joshua  A.,  Me.,  209. 
Lynde,  William  P.,  Wis.,  2&4t  287. 

Mace,  Dan,  Ind..  361. 

Maclay,  W.  B.,  New  York,  234,  270,  291,  41 1. 

Maine,  Admission  of  opposed,  59;  Bill  for,  at 
tached  to  that  of  Missouri,  63;  House  disagrees, 
64;  Senate  recedes  and  Bill  passed,  64;  Gov 
ernor  of,  called  to  deliver  up  Master  of  Ship, 
139. 

Mann,  Abijah,  New  York,  Avows  doctrine,  10D. 

Mann,  Job,  Pa,  270,  234,  237,  318,  828,  8»> 
334. 

Mann,  Horace,  313,  328.  329,  334. 

Marchand,  Albert  G.,  187,  209. 

Mallory,  Kobert,  Ky.,  469,  470,  475,  479. 

Martin,  F.  S.,  New  York,  855. 

Martin,  Charles  D..  Ohio,  441,  443. 

Marsh,  George  P.,  Vt,  234,  281, 285,  2ST. 

Marston,  Giliman,  N.  H.,  479. 

Marshall,  Thomas  F.,  Ky.,  Moves  amendment  to 
Resolution  of  Expulsion,  162;  his  Speech 
thereon,  and  Incidents,  163, 165,  168. 

Marshall,  Samuel  S.,  111.,  395,  896,  411. 

Marshall,  Edward,  Cal.,  361. 

Marshal  of  District  of  Columbia,  Impntions  free 
persons.  474 ;  Refuses  to  abandon  this  moral 
Piracy,  474. 

Marvin,  Dudley,  285,  289. 

Maroons  of  Florida,  76  ;  Massacred  at  Bloum's 
Fort,  77;  Removal  of,  78;  they  Massacre  Dade 
and  his  Command,  78. 

Massachusetts.  People  petition  to  be  exempt 
from  the  crimes  and  disgrace  of  Slavery,  21-J ; 
Petition  for  Equal  Representation,  according 
to  Population,  220 ;  Reports  thereon,  221 ;  ben- 
ate  refuses  to  print  Memorial,  221  ;  Sen's 
Agent  to  South  Carolina  to  test  Law,  341 ;  For 
bids  the  use  of  her  Jails  to  imprison  Slaves, 
842. 

Mason,  Sampson,  Ohio,  188,  209. 

Mason,  James  M.,  Virginia,  Opposes  printing 
Resolutions  from  Vermont,  310;  Introduce,-* 
Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  322;  Makes  Report  in 
favor  of  discharging  Walker,  415;  Makes  Re 
port  against  right  of  Visitation,  417;  Interro 
gates  John  Brown,  4:25;  Makes  Report  fruoi 
Committee,  437  ;  Asserts  that  a  Mob  in  Massa 
chusetts  released  Mr.  Sanborn,  439. 

Mathews,  James,  Ohio,  188,  209, 235. 

Mattocks,  Jonn,  Vt.,  183,  209. 

Mattuot,  Joshua,  Ohio,  188,  209. 

Matteson,  O.  B.,  New  York,  330,  334. 

Maynard,  Horace,  Tenn.,  480. 

Maxwell,  P.  B.,  New  Jersey,  156,  209. 

McCauslan,  William,  Ohio,  235. 

McClellan,  Robert,  Now  York,  281,  285,  237,  293. 

McClellan,  General,  Issues  Proclamation  promis 
ing  to  put  down  Slave  Insurrection,  465. 

McClernand,  John  A.,  III.,  235,  267,  284,  287,  291, 
29S,  318,  823,  330. 334, 463, 469. 

McCorcle.  Joseph  W.,  Cal.,  356, 361. 

McDonald,  Moses,  Me.,  331. 

McDonald,  J.  E.,  Ind.,  334. 

McDougal,  James  H.,  Cal.,  371,  480. 

McDowal,  J.  J.,  Ohio,  235. 

Mcllvain,  Abraham  R.,  234,  368,  270,  287. 

McKissock,  Thomas,  New  York,  32S,  330,  3'U. 

McKean,  J.  B.,  New  York,  468, 469,  475,  479. 

Me  Knight,  Robert,  Pa.,  443. 

McKeon,  John,  New  York,  168,  209. 

MuKennore,  Thomas  F.,  Pa.,  209. 

McLanahan,  James  H.,  Pa.,  3(51. 

McKibben,  J.  C.,  Cal.,  411. 

McNair.  John,  Pa..  355,  371. 

McPhereon,  J.  W.,  Ky.,  469,  470, 475, 479. 

McGuughey,  E.  W.,  lad.,  384. 


494: 


INDEX. 


Meacham,  James,  Vt,  828,  329,  330, 834. 

Medill,  William,  Ohio,  186,  209. 

Meade,  Richard  K.,  Scene  between  him  and  Mr. 
Duer,  805. 

Menzes,  J.  W.,  Ky.,  469,  470,  475,  479. 

Michigan,  Protests  against  the  Extension  of 
Slavery,  378,  379. 

Miller,  J.  W.,  New  Jersey,  Pronounces  Compro 
mise  just,  354,  360. 

Miller,  Smith,  Ind..  371,  395. 

Miller,  Joseph,  Ohio,  411. 

Miller,  John  K.,  Ohio,  267,  '271,  284,  287,  291,  293, 
318,  334. 

Missouri,  Bill  for  admitting,  53-56;  Subject  ab 
sorbs  public  attention,  60;  Compromise,  63 ; 
Constitutionality  of,  64,  65;  Mr.  Adams'  opin 
ion,  65,  66;  Excludes  colored  persons,  69;  Ob 
jected  to,  70-72;  Mr.  Clay's  Resolutions,  72; 
State  admitted.  73. 

Missouri  Compromise,  Proposition  to  Repeal, 
865;  Address  respecting,  366;  Three  thousand 
and  fifty  Clergymen  Remonstrate,  367 ;  Vote 
in  Senate,  369. 

Mitchell,  William,  Ind.,  468, 469, 475. 

Montgomery,  William,  Pa.,  411, 441,  443. 

Moore,  Eli,  New  York,  Presents  Memorial  for 
Slavery,  130. 

Moore,  H.  D.,  Pa.,  318,  328,  330,  361. 

Morehead,  James  K.,  Pa.,  468,  475,  4SO. 

Morgan,  Christopher,  New  York,  209;  Signs  Ad 
dress,  214. 

Morgan,  Edwin  D.,  New  York,  Protects  Suni- 
ner's  body,  394. 

Morrill,  Anson  P.,  Me.,  475. 

Morrill,  Justin  L.,  Vt,  468,  469, 480. 

Morrill,  Lot  M.,  Me.,  480. 

Morris,  Calvary,  Ohio,  188,  210. 

Morris,  Jonathan  D.,  Ohio,  818. 

Morris,  E.  Joy,  Pa.,  443. 

Morris,  James  R.,  Ohio,  469,  475,  479. 

Morris,  Isaac  N.,  111.,  453,  441,  443. 

Morris,  Joseph,  Ohio,  235,  285,  287,  291,  330, 
334. 

Morrison,  John  A.,  Pa.,  361. 

Morrow,  Jeremiah,  Ohio,  188,  210. 

Morse,  Freeman  H.,  221,  233. 

Moseley,  W.  A.,  New  York.  234 

Mississippi,  State  of,  Secedes,  457. 

Murray,  Ambrose  L.,  New  York,  894. 

National  Whig,  assails  Messrs,  Palfrey,  Tuck, 
and  Giddings,  262. 

Natural  rights  of  all  men  to  life,  liberty,  and 
happiness,  10,  38,  82.  North  American  States 
hold  to,  81.  Enactment  against  void,  38,  S42. 
Basis  of  Republican  government,  82. 

Negro  Troops.  President  urged  to  enlist,  484. 
A  brigade  of  at  Cincinnati,  485.  Four  regi 
ments  at  New  Orleans,  485. 

Nelson,  William,  New  York,  285,  818,  328,  830. 
3:33. 

Ness,  Henry,  Pa.,  234.  267. 

Newell,  W.  A.,  New  Jersey,  287,  330. 

New  England,  adheres  to  platform  adopted  at 
Philadelphia,  466. 

New  York  Legislature  resolves  against  admis 
sion  of  Kansas  as  a  slave  State,  412.  Abandons 
Philadelphia  platform,  466. 

New  Jersey  opposed  to  extension  of  slavery, 
220. 

Nesmith,  J.  W.,  Oregon,  480. 

Newhead,  Peter,  Pa.,  187,  210. 

Niblack.  W.  E.,  Indiana,  411,  441,  443. 

Nicol,  Henry,  New  York,  270,  287,  290. 

Nixon,  John,  New  Jersey,  443,  468,  475,  479. 

Noble,  Warren  P.,  Ohio,  468,  469,  475,  479. 

North  Carolina  secedes,  465. 

Northern  States  repeal  their  laws  for  protect 
ing  free  colored  people,  459. 

Nugent,  Robert  II.,  Ohio,  466, 475,  479. 


O'Connell,  Daniel,  The    Irish    Statesman,  chal 
lenged  by  Mr.  Stevenson.  121. 
Odell,  Moses  F.,  New  York,  468,  469,  475,  479. 
Ogle,  Andrew  J.,  Pa.,  318.  328,  330. 
Ohio,  Democratic  legislature  of  assert  doctrines, 

Olds,  Edson  B.,  Ohio,  818,  330,  361,  371. 
Oligarchs.     Hold  slavery  a  permanent  blessing, 

Olin,  Abram  B.,  46S,'469,  475,  479. 
Oliver,  William,  New  York,  186,  209. 
Oregon.    Bill  to  take  possession  of,  247-9. 
Oppression.     Advocates  of  serving  in  all  depart 
ments  of  Government. 
Osborn,  Thomas  A.,  Ct,  186,  20p. 
Otis,  Harrison  G.,  Mass.     Changes  position,  61. 
Otis,  John.  Me.,  329,  334. 
Owen,  Robert  Dale,  Indiana,  235. 

Pacheco,  Lewis,  Case  of,  288,  289:  Vide,  "pro 
perty  in  men"  4 

Packer,  Andrew,  Pa.,  361,  371. 

Palfrey,  John  G.,  Mass.,  Is  assailed,  262;  His 
character,  266;  Speech  and'  incident,  275  ;  His 
inotiou  and  speech,  280;  Asks  leave  to  intro 
duce  a  bill,  284,  286. 

Palmer.  John,  New  York,  118. 

Parmenter,  William.  Mass.,  186,  209. 

Parker,  Amasa  J.,  New  York,  118. 

Parliament  of  Great  Britain  discusses  General 
Butlers  Order,  467. 

Parker,  Samuel  W..  Ind. 

Partridge, 'Samuel,  New  York,  186,  209. 

Patterson,  Thomas  J.,  New  York,  234. 

Patton,  John,  Pa.,  468,  475,  479,  480. 

Paulding,  Commodore,  Pursues  and  brings  back 
Walker  from  Central  America,  414;  Receives 
vote  of  thanks,  422. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  as  President,  recommends  pay 
ment  for  slaves  on  board  Amistad,  362:  Sends 
his  annual  Message  to  House  pending  election  of 
Speaker,  3S6 ;  Sends  second  Message  while  that 
body  is  unorganized,  388;  Reads  lectures  to 
people  in  his  last  Message,  399 ;  Charged  with 
official  mendacity,  400. 

Pearce,  James  A.,  Maryland,  4SC. 

Peace  Congress  proposed,  450 ;  Elects  John  Ty 
ler  to  preside,  its  action,  458. 

Peaslee,  C.  H.,  New  Hampshire,  234,  286,  318, 
327,  334. 

Peck,  Lucius  B.,  Vt,  270,  287,  318,  323,  329,  330. 

Pendleton,  Nnth.  G..  Ohio,  210. 

Pendleton,  G.  H.,  Ohio,  411,  441,  468,  469,  475, 
479. 

Penniman,  E.  J.,  Michigan,  355.  . 

Pennington,  Alexander  M.  C.,  New  Jersey,  Can 
didate  for  Speaker,  386 ;  Signs  report  for  ex 
pelling  Mr.  Brooks,  395. 

Pennington,  late  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  Elect 
ed  Speaker,  435. 

Pennsylvania  abandons  doctrines  enunciated  nt 
Philadelphia,  466. 

Petit,  John,  Ind.,  368,  369. 

Petition,  Right  of,  suppressed,  119 ;  Debated,  155, 
158. 

Pugh,  George  E.,  Ohio,  Advocates  payment  for 
deported  slaves,  418;  Rebuked  by  Southern 
men,  436 :  Denies  that  Senate  possesses  Judi 
cial  power,  438. 

Phelps,  Launcelot,  Ct,  118. 

Phelps,  Samuel,  Vt,  310,  333. 

Phelps,  John  S..  Missouri,  479. 

Phelps.  F.  G.,  Cal.,  479. 

Philadelphia  protests  against  importing  slaves  to 
New  Orleans,  34. 

Philosophy  which  teaches  that  deception,  fraud, 
and  crime  are  necessary  to  the-  support  of  gov 
ernment,  is  dangerous,  404.  4o7,  444,  452. 

Pike,  F.  A.,  Me.,  468,  475,  479. 

Pitman,  F.  C.  W.,  Pa.,  318,  328,  330. 


INDEX. 


495 


Plummer,  Arnold,  Pa.,  187,  209. 

Polk,  .lames  K.,  in  his  Inaugural,  claims  whole 
of  Oregon,  '247  ;  Asks  advice  of  Senate  and  re 
cedes,  "250;  Proposes  to  withdraw  army  from 
Mexico,  258. 

Pollock,  James,  Pa,  234,  270,  287,  2SS,  298. 

Pomeroy,  F.  M.,  New  York,  468,  469,  475,  479. 

Pomeroy,  S.  C.,  Kansas,  4s>9. 

Porter,  Augustus,  Michigan,  Eefuses  to  support 
coastwise  slave-trade,  138;  Votes  alone  for 
laying  resolutions  on  table,  140. 

Porter,  Albert  G-.,  Ind.,  463,  469,  475,  479. 

Potter,  E.  I),  Ohio,  234. 

Potter,  Eli.-ha,  Rhode  Island.  234. 

Potter,  John  F.,  Wis.,  469.  475. 

Pratt,  Zadoc.  New  York,  234. 

President's  Attempts  to  follow  European,  18; 
President  regards  them  binding,  75. 

President  Lincoln  convenes  Congress,  465;  Signs 
Confiscation  and  Emancipation  bill,  470;  Sets 
aside  General  Fremont's  proclamation  of  free 
dom,  471;  Sets  aside  General  Hunter's  pro 
clamation  of  emancipation,  471;  Refuses  to  re 
ceive  negro  troops,  484;  Constrained  to  act, 
485;  First  Proclamation  of  Freedom,  485; 
Second  Proclamation  of  Freedom,  485. 

Price,  R.  M.,  New  Jersey,  358. 

Primal  Truths,  Policy  of  asserting,  discarded  by 
Clay,  Webster,  and  Calhoun,  398;  Asserted 
and  explained,  409 ;  The  invasion  of  these  rights 
constitute  crime,  410,  412,  423;  Are  evaded, 
444;  Are  not  vindicated  by  Republican  Sena 
tors,  336 ;  Proposition  to  assert  them  in  plat 
form  rejected,  445 ;  President  elected  on  Plat 
form,  447 ;  Voice  of  people,  448 :  Are  the  cause 
of  South  Carolina's  secession,  452;  Congress 
legislated  for  Slavery,  464:  But  are  compelled 
to  retain  prim  ,1  truths,  483;  The  constitution 
the  price  for  which  war  was  waged,  485. 

Prentiss,  John  H.,  New  York,  118. 

Prentiss,  S«mne.l,  Vt.,  123. 

Proffit,  George  H.,  Ind.,  188, 194,  210. 

Property  in  man,  40;  Denied,  85,  87-91;  Sus 
tained  by  Judiciary,  91,  92  ;  Said  to  be  clear, 
103;  Denied  by  Justice  McLean,  152,  153; 
Again  rejected,  243-245. 

Bunly,  I.  N..  New  York,  284. 

Putnam,  Harvey,  New  York,  270,  285,  287,  318, 
830. 

Quakers,  petition  for  abolition  of  slave-trade, 
15,  19,  26,  27,  28,  42,  43,  93.  Withdraw  fellow 
ship  frotn  slaveholders,  22.  Persons  emanci 
pated  are  re-enslaved,  22.  They  protest  against 
introduction  of  slavery  into  Indiana,  36.  As 
sert  that  free  negroes  are  kidnapped  in  New 
Jersey,  Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania,  and  sold 
South,  37. 

Ramsy,  Robert,  Pa.,  210. 

Ramsey,  Alexander,  Pa.,  234. 

Randall,  Benjamin,  Me.,  186,  209. 

Randolph,  John,  Va.  Eloquently  exposes  bar 
barism  of  slave-trade  in  D.  C.,  41.  Moves  to 
reconsider  vote  admitting  Missouri,  64.  As 
sails  Mr.  Clay,  81.  Lectures  Southern  mem 
bers,  87.  ' 

Rathbun,  George,  New  York,  234. 

Raynor,  Kenneth,  North  Carolina.  Takes  posi 
tion  to  defend  author,  234. 

Reeling,  John  R.,  New  Hampshire,  196,  209. 

Redpatu,  James.  Refuses  to  appear  before  Sen 
ate  committee,  437. 

Reed,  Churl es  M.,  Pa.,  234. 

Reid,  Robert,  R.,  Pa.,  318,  330,  334. 

Reynolds,  Gideon,  New  York,  2S5,  287,  318,  830. 

Reynolds,  John,  111.,  267,  234,  291,  29S,  330,  334. 

Return  of  mother  and  six  children  born  in  Penn 
sylvania  to  bondage,  366. 

Republican  Parti/,  pledged    to  vote    for    no 


man  who  would  not  sustain  right  of  petition, 
3S3.  The  contest  opened,  383.  General  move 
ment  in  favor  of  reorganizing,  386.  The  call 
for  convention,  397.  The  platform,  897-  8. 
Discard  Know-Nothings,  393.  A  political 
power,  399.  Oppose  extension  of  slavery,  400. 
Success  becomes  evident,  402.  Their  danger, 
407.  They  become  confident,  412.  Have  a 
large  majority  in  House  of  Representatives, 
426.  Difficulty  from  Whig  members,  426. 
They  fear  influence  of  slaveholders,  430.  Ex 
hibit  pusillanimity,  484.  Resort  to  Whig  prac 
tice,  435.  Abandoned  by  Mr.  Seward,  459. 
Make  no  preparation  for  war,  461.  A  Repub 
lican  President  inaugurated,  462.  Come  into 
full  possession  of  Government,  465.  Senators 
and  Representatives  from  Ohio  follow  Mr. 
Seward's  policy,  466  In  several  States  they 
nominate  and  elect  Democrats  who  had  always 
supported  slavery  and  opposed  Republicans, 
466.  Republican  doctrines  only  means  of  re 
storing  peace,  472. 

Reformers.  Spurn  policy  of  Clay  and  Webster, 
and  Cass  and  Calhoun,  483. 

Rhode  Island  protests  against  extension  of  slav 
ery,  378. 

Rice,  John  H.,  Maine,  468,  475,  479. 

Rice,  A.  H.,  Mass.,  468,  409,  479. 

Richardson,  W.  A.,  111.,  267,  284,  291,  293,  298, 
330,  334,  361,  383,  468,  479. 

Riddle,  A.  G.,  Ohio,  468,  469,  479. 

Ridgeway,  Joseph,  Oliio,  188,  209. 

Riggs,  Lewis,  New  York,  209. 

Riggs,  Peter  R.,  New  Jersey,  441,  443. 

Risley,  Elijah,  New  York,  318. 

Ritchie,  Thornaa.  Expelled  from  Senate  eham- 
ber,  257. 

Ritchey,  James,  Ohio,  267,  271,  2S7,  291. 

Ritter,  John,  Pa.,  234. 

Robbins,  Asher,  Rhode  Island,  129. 

Robinson,  Orville,  New  York,  234. 

Robinson,  John  L.,  Indiana,  267,  284,  287,  294, 
318,  330,  334,  355,  361.  371. 

Robbins,  John,  Pa.,  318,  328,  334. 

Robinson,  J.  C.,  111.,  441,  445,  463,  469,  479. 

Rochhiil,  William,  Indiana,  271,  287. 

Rockwell,  Julius,  Mass.,  234,  270,  286,  318,  328, 
329. 

Rockwell,  John  A.,  CL,  284,  287. 

Rogers,  Charles,  New  York,  234. 

Rollins,  James  S.,  Michigan. 

Rollins,  E.  H.,  New  Hampshire,  468,  469,  475, 

Roosevelt,  James  J.,  New  York,  186,  209. 

Rose,  Robert  L.,  New  York,  270, 237, 228, 230, 371. 

Ross,  Thomas,  Pa.,  355,  361. 

Root,  Joseph  M.,  Ohio.  Exposes  slaveholding 
management,  293.  Elected  as  an  advocate  of 
liberty,  300.  Refuses  to  vote  for  W.  J.  Brown, 
303.  Vindicates  himself  and  friends,  309.  Of 
fers  important  resolution,  310.  Maintains  it, 
318,  320,  330,  334. 

Rumny,  David,  New  York,  (Ramsy,  in  text,) 
285,  287,  318,  328. 

Russell,  Jeremiah,  New  York,  234. 

Russell,  W.  T.,  New  York,  411. 

Sacket,  W.  A.,  New  York,  330. 

Sample,  Samuel  C.,  Ind.,  Makes  Report,  221. 

Sanborn,  F.  B.,  Presents  Petition,  438. 

Sand  ford,  John,  New  York,  209. 

Sargeant,  John,  Pa.,  Opposes  Slavery  in  Mis 
souri,  70,  209. 

Sargeant,  A.  A.,  Cal..  479. 

Sawtel,  Cullen,  Me.,  31S,  329,  334. 

Sawyer,  William,  Ohio,  267,  270, 285,  287,  291, 295, 
298. 

Saulsbury,  William,  Del.,  4SO. 

Schermerhorn,  A.-  M.,  New  York,  318,  328-330, 
334,  355,  361. 


496 


INDEX. 


Schenck,  Robert  C.,  Ohio,  235,  271 ;  Offers  an 
Amendment,  279;  Proposes  to  withdraw  Ar 
my  from  Mexico,  '258. 

Schoolcraft,  John  L.,  New  York,  318,  330,  334. 

Scranton,  G.  W.,  Pa.  443. 

Scott,  C.  Z.,  Cal.,411,'441.     •  :    . 

Bcodder,  Zeno,  Mass.,  355. 

Secession.  First  Secession. 116-118;  Firstmove- 
ment  towards  Final  Secession,  320 ;  Secession 
foretold,  337 ;  Declared  Monstrous  in  Princi 
ple,  and  Destructive  in  Practice.  354;  Deemed 
necessary  to  preserve  Slavery,  451. 

Searing,  John  A.,  New  York,  411. 

Sedgewick,  C.  B.,  New  York,  468.  469,  475,  479. 

Seward,  William  II.,  Presents  Petitions,  802, 
383;  Demands  hearing  for  Free  States,  353; 
Closes  Debate  on  Clergymen's  Memorial,  368 ; 
Offers  Resolution  respecting  Outrage  on  Mr. 
Suinner,  394;  Unites  with  Mr.  Mason  in  de 
nying  right  of  Yisi  ation,  417;  Declares  he 
will  not  recognize  Property  in  Man,  418 ;  Thir 
ty  thousand  dollars  offered  for  his  head,  426 ; 
is  Candidate  for  President,  458;  Remarkable 
Speech,  459 ;  Mr.  Iverson  says  he  will  not 
permit  War.  460:  is  appointed  Secretary  of 
State,  463;  his  Correspondence  with  our  Min 
ister  at  London,  466;  Followed  Policy  of  Har 
rison,  Tyler,  Taylor,  and  Fillmore,  483. 

Shank,  John  C.,  Ind.,  4(58,  475,  479. 

Shannon,  Wilson,  871. 

Shaw,  Tristram,  New  Hampshire,  209. 

Shaw,  Aaron,  III,  411. 

Sheil,  George  K,  Oregon,  479. 

Shellebarger,  Samuel,  Ohio,  468,  469,  475,  479. 

Sherman,  J.  N.,  New  York,  46S,  469,  475,  479. 

Sherman,  John,  Ohio,  is  Candidate  for  Speaker, 
428 :  is  timid  under  taunts  and  sneers  of  Slave 
holders,  429;  Refuses  to  answer  Interrogato 
ries,  432;  Withdraws  as  a  Candidate,  480. 

Sicktes,  Daniel  E.,  New  York,  411. 

Simmons.  J.  F.,  Rhode  Island,  440,  480. 

Simonds, 'Samuel,  Ct.,  234 

Skelton,  C.  II.,  New  Jersey,  360. 

blade,  William,  Vt,  Presents  Petition,  116;  Pro 
vokes  Secession,  117;  Presents  Resolutions, 
124;  Attends  meeting  of  Friends  of  Mr.  Ad 
ams,  161;  Publishes  Card,  1SS;  Signs  Address, 
214;  Untiring  in  his  labors,  216. 

/Slaves,  Deported,  vide  Deported  Slaves. 

Imported    into    New   Orleans,  34;    into 

United  States,  through  Amelia  Island,  68. 

Annually  Imported  into  United  States,  76. 

Set  free  by  Shipwreck  on  British  Islands, 

114;  Compensation  for,  112,  113,  114. 

Are  not  Property,  85-91. 

Coffle  passes  Capitol,  125, 126. 

Fugitive  Slaves  surrendered  under  Con 
federation,  12;  Northern  Members  vote  for 
Fugitive  Act,  29;  Act  used  to  enslave  Free 
men,  25 ;  Indians  agree  to  return,  20 ;  Proposi 
tion  to  pay  Masters  for,  21 ;  South  demands  a 
more  stringent  Law,  31  ;  Provokes  Debate, 
32;  Leave  their  Masters  and  settle  in  Florida, 
38 ;  Freemen  Enslaved,  44 ;  the  South  again 
demands  a  more  efficient  Law,  45 ;  Cause  of 
the  first  Seminole  War,  46,;  Cause  of  the 
second  Seminole  War,  99-101  ;  Massacre  of 
Major  Dade  and  his  Command,  101;  these 
Causes  kept  from  the  People,  102 ;  Blood 
hounds  employed,  135; 

Now  Fugitive  Bill  introduced,  322;  Op 


posed.  332;  Passes  Senate,  333 ;  Vote  of  House, 
334,  335;  First  Victim,  340;  Fugitives  in 
Pennsylvania  shot,  340;  President  approves, 
841 ;  Shadrack  escapes  to  Canada,  342  ;  Presi 
dent's  Proclamation,  343. 

Slaves  who  Escape,  Declared  atrocious,  346; 
Masters  authorized  to  slay,  403;  are  shot  by 
Deputy  Marshals,  403. 

Slave-trade,  Coastwise,  Prohibited  by  Treaty  of 


Ghent,  173;  Slave-ships,  174:  Creole,  176; 
Mr.  Webster's  views,  177;  Declares  Traffic 
Lawful,  178;  History  of  this  Traffic.  175-178; 
Author  presents  Resolutions  concerning,  174; 
is  Censured,  188. 

Slaves  of  rebel  masters  Emancipated,  469. 

Slavery,  Forty  Members  from  Free  States  vote 
to  extend,  371;  Slavery  and  Freedom  meet  in 
open  conflict,  390;  Battle*  fought  to  establish 
Slavery  in  Kansas.  391);  Constitutes  leading 
feature  in  the  Southern  Confederacy,  460;  Af 
rican  Slave-trade  reopened,  400;  Secured  by 
Resolution  of  Senate,  417:  Slavery  and  the 
Union  in  death-struggle.  470;  Right  to  Eman 
cipate  Slaves  denied;  473;  All  support  of  Slav 
ery  endangers  Government.  483. 

Slaveholders,  while  denouncing  Northern  men 
lor  agitating  questions  of  Slavery,  denounce 
Northern  men  for  replying  to  them,  347;  Felt 
the  sceptre  of  power  sliding  from  their  grasp, 
390.  ' 

Slave-catcher  slain.  377. 

Slave-power,  Paralyzed,  and  its  prestige  lost,  414. 

Sloan,  A.  S.,  Wis.,  4<>9,  475,  480. 

Slicer,  Rev.  Henry,  Looks  upon  horrors  of  Slave- 
trade  unmoved,  278;  Incidents,  278. 

Smart,  E.  K.,  Me.,  284,  286. 

Smith,  Truman,  Ct,  186,  209;  Signs  Address, 
214;  Joins  in  Report  to  pay  for  deported 
Slaves,  281,  285,  333. 

Smith,  Albert,  New  York,  234. 

Smith,  Thomas,  Ind.,  235. 

Smith,  Caleb  B.,  Ind.,  '235,  267,  2S4,  237. 

Smith,  E.  IL,  New  York,  468.  469,  475. 

Smith,  Gerritt,  New  York,  Character  of,  374; 
Signs  Address,  376.  Reported  by  Democratic 
Committee  of  New  York  as  involved  in  Raid 
of  John  Brown,  426 ;  Commences  Suit,  and  the 
Committee  back  down  and  pay  Costs,  426. 

South  Carolina,  Lectures  Northern  States  for 
electing  Harrison,  247;  Resolutions  of  her 
Legislature,  432;  Her  Representatives  retire 
from  Congress,  451 ;  Causes  of  Secession,  451. 

Southern  Confederacy  formed,  466. 

Southern  Members  arrogant  and  dictatorial,  803. 

Spaulding,  E.  G.,  New  York,  46S,  409,  475. 

Spinner,  Francis  E.,  New  York,  375. 

St.  John,  Henry,  Ohio,  235. 

St.  John,  Daniel  B.,  New  York,  270,  285,  287. 

Starkweather,  G.  A.,  New  York,  2S5,  289. 

Stetson,  Samuel,  New  York.  234,  318.  329,  884. 

Steele,  W.  G.,  New  Jersey,  468,  475.  479. 

Steele,  John  B.,  New  York,  4u8,  409,  475,  479. 

Stewart,  John,  Ct,  234. 

Stewart,  Andrew,  Pa.,  234,  298. 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  PH.,  Nominated  for  Speaker, 
350.  Confronts  Slaveholders,  4'29.  Tantalizes 
them,  230,  469,  475.  Charges  design  upon 
General  Halleck,  476.  479. 

Strong,  Selah  B.,  New  York,  234. 

Strong,  William,  Pa.,  284.  328. 

Strohen,  John,  Pa.,  252,  27(1,  285,  287. 

Stokely,  Samuel,  Ohio,  186,  209. 

Stuart,  John  F.,  III..  1S8,  210. 

Stuart,  Charles  E.,  Mich  ,  356,  369,  371.  Admits 
change  of  Opinion  in  his  State,  379.  Opposes 
Lecompton  Constitution,  405.  Opposed  to  the 
President,  407.  Votes  to  pay  for  deported 
Slaves,  418. 

Sturgeon,  Daniel,  Pa ,  332. 

Sumner,  Charles,  One  of  the  Senators  who  de 
manded  a  hearing  for  the  Free  States,  853. 
Signs  Address  to  thvi  People,  366.  Character 
izes  Bill  repealing  Missouri  Compromise,  367. 
Replies  to  Senator  Jones,  374  Is  severe  on 
Mr.  Butler,  393.  Is  stricken  down  in  Senate 
Chamber,  394.  Represents  Massachusetts,  394. 
Unable  to  attend  to  duties,  396.  Presents  l'»- 
tion  of  Mr.  Sanborn,  438,  440.  441,  430. 

Sweetser,  Charles,  Ohio,  3u2,  323,  329,  330 


INDEX. 


497 


(Sylvester,  K  fi.,  New  York,  afO,  285,  257,  « IS. 

329,  330-;  334. 
Sykes,  George,  New  Jersey,  234. 

Tallmailge,  James.  New  York,  t  -opuses  to  make 
freedom  the  basis  of  government  in  Missouri, 
."»o;  His  proposition  adopted,  55:  Declares  he 
would  not  argue  barbarous  character  of  slaverv, 
56. 

Tallmadge,  Frederick  A.,  New  York,  Votes,  270, 
2*5;  Changes  position,  2S8,  318,  315.  32S,  334 
Tallmadgc.  N.  P..  New  York,  129,  139. 
Tappan,  Benjamin,  Ohio.  Votes  against  Mr.  Por 
ter's  motion,  189. 
Taylor,  John  L.,  Ohio,  356,  361,  371. 

Taylor.  John  W.,  New  York.  Proposes  freedom 
i'n  Arkansas,  52;  Opposes  Slavery  in  Missouri. 
58;  Elected  Speaker,  69:  is  defeated,  74 
Taylor,  Zachary,  Candidate  for  President,  267; 
Elected,  283  ;  Exerts  his  influence  against  free 
dom  in  California,  297. 

Taylor,  George,  New  York,  411. 
Taylor,  John  //.,  Ohio,  Votes  to  sustain  slave- 
trade  in  District  of  Columbia.  270^285;  Changes 
position,  288,  291,  318,  330,  334. 

Tennessee.  Secedes,  465 

7<?avw.  Annexation  of.  Foretold  in  an  Address 
by  Members  of  'Congress,  213;  Mexico 
alarmed,  222 ;  Treaty  of  Annexation.  223 ; 
Ge.neral  Jackson  consulted,  224;  Mr  Webster 
dismissed  in  order  to  enter  upon  subject,  224; 
Treaty  Rejected,  Mr.  Benton  introduces  Bill. 
226  ;  Passed  Senate,  235 ;  its  effect  on  Demo 
cratic  Party,  236;  Governor  of,  threatens  to 
expel  United  States  Army,  326. 
Texas  DeMx,  Bill  to  pay  debts  of  Texas,  327 ; 
Price  of  votes,  326 ;  the  Vote,  327,  329, 330.  Tex 
as  demands  three  and  a  half  millions  dollars 
more.  380;  Stock-jobbers  and  gamblers  enter 
into  Texan  interest,  380;  they  seize  upon., 
Government  Stores,  460.  465. 

Thomas  Francis.  Md.,  469,  470.  475. 

Thaycr,  Eli,  Mass..  Opposes  adoption  of  primal 
truths,  441 , 445 ;  Defeats  Bill  Prohibiting  Slav 
ery  in  Territories,  442. 

Thomason,  William  P.,  Ky.,  Proposes  peace  with 
Mexico.  2-38. 

Thompson,  J.  R.,  New  Jersey,  369. 

Thompson,  William,  Iowa,  285,287. 

Thomson,  Rk-hard  W.,  Ind.,210, 271, 284, 291, 298. 

Thompson,  Waddy,  South  Carolina,  Whimsical 
position  of,  124:  Insults  Author,  150;  Re 
warded,  152. 

Thompson,  James,  Pa.,  Vote?,  218;  Changes  po 
sition,  2S&;  Vote,*,  318,  825,  328,  334. 

Thurman, ,  Ohio,  318,  328,  330,  384 

Tilden,  Daniel  R.,  Ohio,  Votes  against  Annexa 
tion  of  Texas.  235;  against  Mexican  War, 
252. 

Tillinghast,  Joseph,  Rhode  Island,  186,  Wfy 

Tipton.  John,  Ind.,  129. 

Titus,  Obadiah,  New  York,  118. 

Toland,  George  W.,  Pa.,  1 87,  20!>. 

Toombs,  Robert,  Georgia,  Avows  himself  for 
Dissolution,  305;  Sets  House  at  Defiance,  307. 

Tomlinson,  F.  A..,  New  York,  209;  Signs  Ad 
dress,  214. 

Toueey,  Isaac.  Ct.  369. 

TittMo  in  Slav?*,  Vide  Treaty  of  Ghent 

Train,  Charles  R.,  Mass.,  469,  470,  475,  479. 

Treaty  <>/1783,  Claims  for  Slaves  deported  in 
violation  of,  18,  19;  Debate  on,  22;  Claims 
pnonounced  Odious,  19. 

Treat;/  (if  Ghent,  Forbids  deportation  of  Slaves, 
89;  Forbids  traffic  in  Slaves,  39;  Compensa 
tion  for  deported  Slaves  claimed,  49 ;  Refused, 
0T  ;  Controversy  closed,  82. 

Titaty  of  Paynt'fi  Landim.g,  99;   Stipulation 
for  separate  Territory  to  Seminoles,  100. 
eaty  of  Camp  Moultrie,  75.    Ite  Object*,  75. 


Treaty  with  Great  Britain  to  suppress  African 
Slave-trade,  472. 

Trimble,  Carey  A.,  Ohio,  443,475. 

Triimbull,  Lyman,  111..  Reviews  President's  Mes 
sage,  400.  Gives  notice  of  Bill  to  emancipate 
all  Slaves,  and  confiscate  all  property  of  Rebels, 
473,  480. 

Trmnbull,  Joseph,  Ct.,  186,  209. 

Trowbridge,  R.  E.,  Mich.,  468,  475,  479. 

Tuck,  Amos,  New  Hampshire,  Votes  against 
Whig  candidate,  262.  Votes  asainst  Slave 
trade,  270,  271,  286,  300,  304,  308,  329,  334. 

Turner,  Thomas  J.,  III.,  287. 

Tyler,  General,  His  Barbarism,  476. 

Union,  Its  Dissolution  threatened,  27,  28,  61,  70. 
Shadowed  forth  in  the  Contest  between  Hayne 
and  Webster,  97.  No  real  Union  between 
Freedom  and  Slavery,  106.  People  dissatis 
fied,  119.  Petition  for  Dissolution,  159.  Vide- 
J  Q.  Adams. 

UnderhiV-,  Walter,  New  York  313,  829,  330,  834. 

Upham,  William,  Vt,  332. 

Vallandigham,  C.  L.,  Visits  John  Brown,  and 
endeavors  to  implicate  Author  in  the  invasion 
of  Virginia,  425,  441,  443,  468,  475,  479. 

Van  Valkenburg.  R.  B.,  New  York,  468,  475,  479. 

Vail,  George.  New  Jersey.  371. 

Van  Wyck,  C.  H.,  New  York,  468,  469,  475. 

Van  Ham,  New  York,  4fiS,  469,  475,  479. 

Van  Buren,  John,  New  York,  Votes,  209. 

Vance,  Joseph.  Ohio,  Votes,  235,  252. 

Van  Dyke,  John,  New  Jersey,  286,  288,  993.  328, 
330. 

Van  meter.  John  J.,  Votes  against  Annexation  of 
Texas,  235. 

Van  Rensal^er,  Henry,  Votes,  2D9. 

Van.lever.  --  ,  Iowa,  469,  479. 

Vwie,  John  P.,  Pa.,  4i>8,  469,  475. 

Vinton.  Samuel  F.,  Ohio,  Votes,  235  271,  285, 
294,318,828,880.384. 

Virginia-,  Her  Representative*  propose  to  act 
as  mediators  between  Slave  and  Free  State*, 
but  propose  nothing  but  further  guarantee 
for  Slavery,  450.  She  Secedes,  465. 

Vibbard,  Ctmuncy,  New  York,  479.          * 

Visitation,  Right  of  exercised  by  British  ships, 
416.  Resolution  of  Senate  concerning,  416. 
Right  asserled  and  maintained,  417.  But  de 
nied  in  1858,  by  Mtvssrs.  Mason,  Seward,  HaUx 
Wade,  and  others,  417. 

Voorhies,  D.  W.,  Ind.,  460,  479. 


,  Edward.  Ohio.  360. 
Wade,  Benjamin  F.,  Ohio,  Pronounces  assault  oil 

Sumner  cowardly,  395.     Unites  with  Messrs. 

Mason,  Seward.  Hale.,  and  others  in  denying 

right  of  Visitation,  417,  441.      Maintains  Re 

publican  doctrines.  456,  540. 
Wadsworth,  W.  H.,  Ky.,  469,  470>  47& 
Wagner,  David  D.,  Pa.,  118. 
Wallbridire,  Henry  T.,  New  York,  371. 
Walden,  Hiram.  New  York.  328,  330,  334.. 
Waldo,  Loren  P.,  Ct.,  318,  329,  334 
Waikt-r,  Isaac  P.,  Wis.,  296,  333. 
Walker.  Arnasa,  Muss.  (Watson,  in  text),  475. 
Walker,  William  A.,  New  York,  871. 
Walker,  William,  and  followers,  invade 

America  to  establish  Slavery,  414,  415. 
Wall.  Garret,  New  Jersey,  129,  139. 
Wallace,  John  W.,  Pa.,  468,  469,  475,490. 
Wallace,  David,  Ind.,  206,  210,  188. 
Wall,  William,  New  York,  479. 
Wallbridge,  Hiram,  New  York,  411,  47H 
Walsh,  Michael,  New  York,  355,  360,  871 
Walton,  E.  P.,  Vt  ,  468,  469 
Walton,  Charles,  Mlk  468,  469,475,479. 
Warren,  Cornelius,  Wew  York,  270,  286,  267 
Washburne,  Elihu  &.46S,  475,  479. 


498 


INDEX 


TT./".  .  The  Unhed  States  engaged  in  two  Wars 
with  Barbary  Powers  to  abolish  Slavery, 
and  two  with  Seininole  Indians  to  sustain  it, 
4S. 

War  with  Mexico  foretold,  213,  224,  251.  Com 
menced,  252.  Its  advocates  disappointed,  '257. 
Propositions  to  close,  258.  .Remonstrate 
agiiinst,  '^64. 

War.  Preparatory  to  Civil  War,  arms  and  am 
munition  wore  transported  South,  453.  First 
nranlfeatfttlon  of  force  in  resisting  Rebellion, 
453.  Must  be  af  t  of  the  North,  454.  Southern 
Statesmen  assured  the  people  of  other  Nations 
tliere  would  be  no  War,  457.  Hostilities  com 
menced.  460.  Cannonade  of  Sumter,  and  at 
tempted  Massacre  of  Troops  in  Baltimore,  463. 
Throws  upon  the  Executive  despotic  powers, 
4S2. 

Webster,  Edwin  H.,  Md.,  460,  479. 

Ward.  Elijah,  New  York,  468,  475,  479. 

Ward.  Aaron,  N.  Y.,  186,  **9. 

"\\fatson,  J.  0.,  Paid  for  Slaves,  355,  356. 

Webster,  Daniel,  Contest  with  Hayne,  97.  Es 
teemed  by  Whig  party,  97.  His  views  of 
Tralh'c  in  Slaves,  177.  Instructs  our  Minister 
x  at  London,  178.  Indorses  Mr.  Calhoun's  doc 
trine,  272,  204.  His  7th  March  Speech,  325.  Is 
Secretary  of  State,  326.  Approves  Fugitive 
Act,  335.  Discovers  errors,  and  calls  Religious 
influence  to  his  aid,  335.  Cabinet  Council, 
343.  His  death.  358.  Contributed  to  the  Re 
bellion,  470. 

Weid,  Theodore,  Attends  meeting  of  Mr.  Adams1 
friends,  161.  Acts  on  Committee,  162. 

Weller,  John  B.,  Ohio,  Presents  Resolutions  for 
censuring  Author,  184.  Wishes  to  amend 
Journal,  190.  Votes  for  Slave-dealers,  210. 
For  Annexation  of  Texas,  235,  360,  36y. 

Wentworth,  John,  Klines,  235,  271,  285,  2S7,  380, 
33-4. 

West-brook,  John,  Pa.,  187,  209. 

Westbrook,  T.  R.,  New  York,  371. 

Wheaton.  Horace,  NewYorM*84 

Wheeler,  W.  A.,  New  York,  468,  4(59,  475, 479. 

Whig  Party.  Paralyzed  by  doctrines  of  Mr. 
Webster,  225.  Avow  no  doctrine  at  Conven 
tion,  3*6.  Discard  Advocates  of  truth  and 
justice,  356.  Surrenders  its  own  existence, 
358.  Believed  that  deception,  fraud,  and 
crime  were  necessary,  404.  Anxious  to  revive 
former  policy,  420.  Seek  to  deny  Republican 
doctrines,  443. 

Whitcomb,  James,  Ind.,  333. 

White,  Allison,  Pa.,  411. 

White,  Albert  S.,  Ind.,  139, 468,  469, 475,  479. 

White,  Chilton  A.,  468, 475, 479. 


White,  Hugh,  New  York,  270,  285,  287,  818,  898, 
330. 

White,  Joseph  L.,  Ind.,  188,  210. 

Whittlcsey,  W.  A..  Ohio.  328,  329,  380.  834. 

Wickliffe,  Charles  A.,  Ky..  469,  470,  475, 481. 

Wick,  William  W..  End,  267.  291. 

Wigs,  William  II.,  Paid  for  Slaves  deported 
during  th?  Revolution,  359,  360. 

Wigfall,  L.;  Texas,  Declares  cotton  to  be  king, 
455. 

Wildrich,  Isaac.  New  Jersey,  328,  330,  361. 

Willmot,  David,  Pa.,  Would  support  Mexican 
War  by  taxation.  Assailed  thereto*.  272.  28/V 
Elected  as  an  advocate  of  Liberty,  3oO.  Votc.s 
for  Brown,  3u4,  318,  480. 

Wilson,  James  F.,  Iowa,  479. 

Wilson,  Henry,  Mass.,  Calls  attention  to  Ontr.-ige 
on  Mr.  Sumner,  394.  Reviews  President's 
Message,  4<iO.  Unites  with  Mr.  Mason  and 
others,  417.  Confronts  Slaveholders,  436.  Of 
fers  Resolution  directing  Marsha!  of  District  of 
Columbia  to  discharge  persons  against  whom 
no  charge  existed,  474.  480. 

Wiley,  James  S.,  Me.,  2G7,  284,  286,  298. 

Williams,  Thomas  W.,  Ct,  186,  209.  Signs  Ad 
dress,  214. 

Williams.  Henry,  Mass.,  234. 

Wilson,  James,  New  Hampshire,  270,  2,t-8.  Re 
ports  asrainst  paying  for  Slaves,  289.  Votes, 
318,  327,  329. 

Windom,  William,  Min  .  469,  475,  479. 

Winthrop,  Robert  C.,  180,  209.  Reports  Bill  pro 
hibiting  imprisonment  of  colored  persons,  212. 
Opposes  Annexation  of  Texas,  284.  Candidate 
for  Speaker,  261.  Elected,  and  arranges  Com 
mittees,  261.  Promotes  election  of  General 
Taylor,  263.  Candidate  for  re-election,  301. 
Defeated,  308. 

Wise,  Henry  A.,  Excuses  Dawsoi^s  attempted 
violence,  211. 

Witte,  W.  H.,  Pa.,  371. 

Wright,  Hendricks  B.,  Pa.,  871.  Moves  to  ex 
clude  blacks  from  public  lands,  876,  408,  415, 
481. 

Wright,  W.,  New  Jersey.  418. 

Wood,  Fernando,  New  York,  186,  209. 

Wood,  Amos  E.,  Ohio,  318,  334. 

Wood,  Benjamin,  New  York,  468,  475,  479. 

Woodruff,  George  C.,  Ct.,  468,  475.  479. 

Worcester,  Samuel  T.,  Ohio,  468,  475,  479. 

Wortendike,  Jacob,  New  Jersey,  411. 

Younsr,  John,  New  York,  186,  209. 
Young,  Augustus,  VL,  186,  209. 
York,  Thomas  Jones,  New  Jersey,  186,  209. 
Yost,  Jacob,  Pa,  234. 


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